Tag: bread

I have never in my life liked egg salad sandwiches.  Not that I ever had many of them.  I think part of it was probably my association of egg salad sandwiches with convalescent homes (senior citizen care centers).  I understand why it would be a popular dish in that setting.  It is a food that is soft and easy to chew, and aside from some base ingredients, one can make it as bland or flavorful as they wish.  I think the problem that I had with these sandwiches is that they never seemed to have much flavor.  Therefore, I stopped even attempting to eat them before the age of 12.

Now I have to take you back to last summer.  I live in Vegas, so it gets hot, and yes, it really does get hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk.  My sisters and I tested that theory as kids when we used to spend the summers here visiting relatives.  Well, the heat does strange things to my appetite, aside from sometimes just killing it completely.  Last summer, I suddenly had the oddest craving for an egg salad sandwich.  This was completely out of the blue, as I have already explained that I had written them off as unpalatable.  Alas, I know that if I don't give in to one of my spontaneous food cravings, it will haunt me until I do, even going on for months, so I knew that I had to try an egg salad sandwich as an adult.

I try to completely avoid red and white onions in food, although I love them, but I'm allergic and it took me years to really figure it out.  Because of that, I thought it was going to be hard to find egg salad sandwiches premade at the store without onions in them, since I thought that they were usually made with onions or onion salt for flavoring.  I guess I might have been confusing the mixture with potato salad, because I found a sandwich all wrapped and ready to go at the local supermarket that was sans onion products.  I got home and hesitatingly took the first bite, not sure what to expect.  Well, this particular sandwich had basically no flavor at all.  No salt or anything.  Sure, I could add salt, but the bread was already fused to the egg salad.  I ate the whole sandwich anyway.  It did nothing for my craving.  it just so happens that my cravings are not just for a certain dish, but for the ULTIMATE version of that dish.

There was only one thing I could do.  I had to make my own egg salad sandwiches at home from scratch.  I got out two of my many general cookbooks and decided to try each version at the same time.  I made both batches and found that neither one was all that great, but definitely better than the grocery store deli version.  After storing the mixtures in the fridge in their separate bowls, and telling one of my sisters to have at them, a day later we had a little of each left, but still in bowls much too large for the new portions.  I thought, "to heck with it", and tossed them in a bowl together.  I later decided to finish off my egg salad experiments, now combined, and it turned out that when mixed together, I actually had my ULTIMATE EGG SALAD SANDWICH that I had somehow daydreamed of.  I have since started craving this occasionally, so I have made it several times.  The amount of salt you use, which is the case for any food product, is up to your own taste buds.  A helpful hint for you, though, is that the mixture will taste saltier after it is allowed to sit for awhile.  I guess that's more of a warning, as you may think you've salted it to perfection, only to find that it is much too salty after 6 hours in the fridge. 

Ultimate Egg Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients:

10 eggs

5 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/4 cup drained pickle relish (or chop up some pickles yourself)

1/3 cup celery (I think celery is nutritionally useless; although it does add a fun crunch, I usually omit it)

2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion

1 tablespoon diced pimiento

1 tablespoon mustard (yellow, dijon, etc. - whatever you'd like best)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Loaf of sliced bread (the heartier the better - adds more variety to the texture)

Instructions:

Place whole eggs (shells intact) in a large saucepan with enough cold water to completely cover them.  Bring to boil on stove.  After boiling starts, continue to boil for 15-20 minutes.  When time is up, run cold water over them until cool enough to handle.  Crack each egg and peel off the shells (I believe that I read somewhere that egg shells make excellent fertilizer for some plants, but you'll have to research that one yourself).  On a cutting board, use your favorite knife to chop the eggs up.  I prefer the egg whites to be as big as quarter-inch cubes, but it all depends on how smooth you want to mixture.  Really, this sandwich is all about you and your preferences.  How else could it be the ULTIMATE for you as well as me?  Toss the chopped eggs into a medium-sized bowl and add all of the other ingredients, in whichever order you please.  Stir well.  Spread between two slices of bread, preferably toasted first.  Cut diagonally, and enjoy.  Refrigerate the leftover mixture immediately - never take your chances with heat and anything containing mayo.  Makes about 6 sandwiches.

The Queen of Tarts is always acting all high and mighty, baking bread and cookies and I think probably even people every night. She'll casually pull out some flour and other stuff, get a bowl or something, and in twenty minutes she'll be yanking a tray of golden brown tastiness out of the oven. Her demeanor seems to say, what, bread? Oh look, here it is. Easiest thing in the world.

So, for Russian night, I decided to make a mushroom pastry. I'd show her. I'd whip up a huge plate of tasty mushroom foods and then I'd be the one who shrugs modestly. Oh yeah, those pastries? Totally easy.

I started the night before with:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 sticks of butter

The recipe I was following told me to cut the whole thing together with a wide knife. Not knowing what the heck it was talking about, I got a butter knife and cut the mixture together while watching Bob the Builder. By the end of it, my shoulders were totally and completely sore.

The next day, I sauteed:

• 1 lb minced mushrooms
• 1 minced large onion

I added some pepper and tarragon during the cooking process, then set it aside to cool down while I pulled out the dough.

Of course, the dough didn't look right. It kept falling apart. It was impossible to roll. So I got out the pastry knife (yeah, I didn't know we had one the night before) and cut in an additional half stick of softened butter. The dough formed a nifty ball immediately. Victory for me.

I started rolling the dough out, but it was pretty sticky, and it kept tearing in places. In fact, it took me an hour to roll out, but I learned one vital fact you'll need if you ever work with dough: flour is your friend. If your dough even begins to give you lip, cover it (and your rolling surface) with flour. You cannot have enough flour on hand. It's mathematically impossible.

Once I had the dough rolled out to about a quarter inch, I cut it into squares. I mixed a cup of grated parmesan into the mushroom mixture, put teaspoonfuls of it into the squares, and folded them diagonally. After all the little triangley things were made, they were brushed with egg yolk, sprinkled with caraway seeds, and put into a 350-degree oven for twenty minutes.

Were they good? Yeah. They were good. They were pretty darn good. But I couldn't shrug and be all modest, because my shoulders might have fallen off.

Here we go! For this EU night, I decided on making Cheesesteaks. Alas, they weren't traditional, in the fact that they weren't made with Cheez Whiz (Seriously. Apparently, a hot dog vendor in Philidelphia invented cheesesteaks when he got bored with his regular faire). This is the recipe. alas. it is not exact. Why? Well because its up to you the amount of ingredients you want on the thing. Not me.

Also, note that the cut of beef required (suggested) for these is a mysterious cut known to few as "Eye of Round" Roast. In my earlier, uncertain years, I worked at a Smiths Food and Drug in the Meat department. I know quite a bit of beef from my Father and Grandfather as well, but I had never heard of this cut. I dont know why. Ask your butcher, or use a Rib-Eye steak or comparable marbled cut of beef. You can't tell the difference. Except in price, maybe, the Eye of Round is very cheap, $11 for 2.5 lbs or so. (Note: 2.5 lbs is enough to make 10 sandwiches, and thats just meat and cheese.)

2lb.      Eye of Round roast, 
          or comparable portion of 
          meat to stick in sandwiches.

8-10      Dutch style sandwich rolls (very flaky crust).

16-20     Slices of provolone cheese

?         Frenched onions, chopped bell peppers, mushrooms
          sweet cherry peppers, anything you want on there.

1         Spray bottle or mustard bottle filled with        
          clean water.

1         Bottle of Steak/Grill seasoning (optional)

Start by putting the roast, or other meat in the freezer for an hour or two. You want it frozen, but still pliable. Rock hard would be bad, and hard to cut. While its freezing, cut the vegetables, watch TV, do something.

Frozen enough? ok, get a serrated blade, yes, the type you cut bread with. What you're looking for here is to shave very thin slices of beef off of the roast. Since the beef is frozen, it should be easier to cut without tearing. After you've sliced all of the beef very thin, set it aside in a bowl. I would suggest you get a two burner cast iron griddle for this, they're good for pancakes, eggs, pretty much anything, but great for this. Lay it across one front burner and one back burner, and turn the heat on the front burner to high, and the back burner to low.

Throw a cup or so of your veggies on the front part of the griddle, and saute until desired done-ness. While this is cooking, preheat the oven to 175 degrees. If the vegetables begin to stick to the griddle, hit them with a squirt of water from the mustard bottle, it will prevent them from sticking. Once they're cooked to your liking, move them to the back of the griddle. Throw a cup of the sliced beef on there, and cook to desired doneness and again, hit with a squirt of water if it starts to stick. Once this is cooked to your liking, combine the cooked vegetables and the beef together and cook for a minute or two, blasting with water when you need to. With the spatula, form the mixture into an oval shape, and then put two slices of provolone on the oval, almost covering the meat but try to keep it off of the grill. Hit the top of the cheese with two or three squirts of water, and the steam from this will melt the cheese very very quickly.

Get one of your sandwich rolls, and cut lengthwise along one side, in the typical hot dog bun fashion. Lay the bun open side down onto the meat, and then slide the spatula underneath the entire mass. In one motion, flip the whole mess over, and you should have a Philly Cheesesteak! Yay!

I know it seems like quite a bit of work, but they are mighty tasty.

Dough Face By LittleRoq	Turtle Bread

This year for Christmas I ordered the Alpha-Bakery and Rainbow Bakery Children's Cookbooks from Gold Medal Flour for a lot of the kids. When they arrived I took a peek through them and found something very surprising, these aren't recipes just for kids. They are great, simple baking recipes for people of all ages.

We have made several recipes from the books already.

From Rainbow Bakery
Twisters Biscuit Sticks- a versatile and easy breadstick recipe
You Can Dough It! Baked Dough Creations- a salt dough recipe to make keepsake ornaments, decorations, or beads

From Alpha-Bakery
T is for Turtle Bread-This bread is really fun to make. I had never made a fun shaped bread before. It could also be shaped into an oval or round loaf or baked in a loaf pan.

If you are looking for a great gift for some kids in your life or you just want to get your hands on some simple, yet wonderful recipes then you may want to order the Gold Medal Flour Children's Cookbooks.

Please save your family from store bought refrigerated sugar cookie dough. These cookies turn hard as a rock within minutes of making them and they have no real flavor at all. Treat your family to some wonderful homemade sugar cookies and frosting. They will thank you for it.

The recipe I am going to share with you has been in my family for over 20 years. My aunt Kathy received the recipe from a co-worker. Kathy then gave the recipe to my mom. It has since become a tradition that each year at Easter and Christmas my mom makes 6 double batches of cookies. We spend many hours baking and frosting, but it is always a lot of fun and wouldn't be the same without them.

I had never made these cookies on my own, but this past week that all changed. LittleRoq had a Christmas party to go to and I volunteered to make the sugar cookies (so as to save the children from the horrible store bought ones!). LittleRoq joined in on the cutting out of the shapes. And then he frosted the cookies reserved for our house while I frosted the ones for the party. It was really neat to make a recipe with my son that I have been making at my mom's side for many years.

Over the years we have learned a few things about making sugar cookies.

• First: Make way more cookies than you think you will need because no one can get enough of these.
• Second: If you are going to ship them, use small shapes rather than large ones because the small ones are more likely to survive the trip intact.
• Third: Do not roll the dough into large balls and then refrigerate. This creates a lot of hard work for you later on. The best thing to do is separate the dough and flatten it into a few small slabs, wrap in plastic wrap and then refrigerate. This makes rolling the dough out much easier.
• Fourth: Use powdered sugar rather than flour to dust your rolling surface so as to not add too much flour taste to the cookies.

For many cookie pointers read the transcript of the Good Eats episode The Cookie Clause. Alton Brown has many great tips on cookie making in that episode. It is where I learned about the slabs of dough. Can you believe we never thought of that?

And FINALLY the recipe:

Kathleen's (Mary's) Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 c sifted powder sugar
1 c butter softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 c flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Cream the sugar and butter. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend dry ingredients, stir into butter mixture. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out dough a little at a time (if it gets too warm it gets sticky) to about 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out.
Bake on un-greased baking sheets for 8 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool on wire racks. Frost with butter cream frosting.

Butter Cream Frosting

1 lb Powder Sugar (4 cups)
1/4 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 c butter softened
Food coloring

In a bowl combine sugar, milk, vanilla and butter. If a little thick add milk a few drops at a time until thin enough to frost with. Divide into bowls and mix in the food coloring.

Frost the cookies. Allow frosting to harden on the cookies then store in air-tight containers. (Place a piece of bread in with the cookies to keep them soft. When the piece becomes hard and dried out replace it with a fresh piece.)

All of us here at EU just want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your kitchen is full of wonderful smells right about now. Mine smells of a made from scratch Apple Pie that I just pulled from the oven. Rather than a turkey we have opted for a HoneyBaked Ham. That has left the oven free for me to do all sorts of baking today. Next on the agenda is cornbread. I have yet to decide if I am going to make sweet corn muffins or basic corn bread. I'll have to get that figured out shortly. Also, I am going to try to squeeze in a batch of my grandma's Pumpkin Cookies. Happy Baking!

My mother's family has Thanksgiving the Saturday before the actual holiday so as to free everyone up for other obligations. This year was no exception. We opted to go potluck style this time around. I was in charge of whole cranberry sauce, cranberry salad and rolls.

For the rolls I made:

• one batch of Buttery Rolls shaped as crescents
• one double batch of Cornbread baked in my Pampered Chef Rectangular Baker
• one batch of Susan's Farm House White Bread shaped into 36 rolls and baked on two cookie sheets

It seems like a lot of work, but it wasn't. Both cranberry dishes are make-ahead, so no pressure there. I made the Farm House White Rolls the day before. The dough for the Buttery Rolls was put in the fridge the afternoon before so they could be shaped, risen and baked the morning of. And I made the Cornbread the night before. So there you have it. Five different dishes all made in a day and a half with low stress!

I have always made my own bread crumbs for this recipe. In my opinion the larger crumbs work better than the small size of a prepared bread crumb. You can use any flavor of bread (white, wheat, french bread), day old bread works great, as does the heel of the bread. If you would like to use a prepared breadcrumb rather than crumbling up some bread you might consider using some panko style crumbs

Creamy Spinach

• 2 package (10 oz each) frozen chopped spinach
• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup small bits of torn up bread (about 2 slices)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• seasonings of your choice. (I use 2-3 tsp Italian Seasoning).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the spinach according to the package directions and drain well. Combine the spinach, cream cheese, butter, and salt. Pour into a greased or buttered 8in by 8in baking dish.

Topping: Pour the melted butter over the top of bread crumbs. Use a fork to stir well making sure to moisten all of the crumbs. Add in the salt, pepper and seasonings. Spread out evenly over the top of the spinach mixture.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and heated through.

(Note: If you double this recipe, bake it in a 9 in by 13 in dish following the same cooking time.)

I had this great plan to do a Thanksgiving count down. At the beginning of October I wrote down a list of the recipes I would like to share with our EU fans. And then life happened, a trip to the ER, the house work getting behind, ohh and let's not forget my current bread baking obsession which has taken up a lot of my spare cooking time. So there you have it, my excuse as to why this won't be a perfect, recipe a day, count down.

I will however throw you a few of my absolute favorite recipes over the next couple of weeks. These are recipes that I have made many times and also look forward to eating each holiday season. I hope you enjoy them too.