Frenchie Minute Steaks (or Frenchie Beef Lengua)

Frenchie Minute Steak 

Minute steaks are very thin cuts of beef sirloin or round, so thin that you can cook each side for one minute and it is done.

I cooked this for the first time just googling french onion soup with beef and got the idea to add frenchies, basing on my husband's favorite beef dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, Chop Steak. While not exactly the same, my husband excitedly exclaimed that they look and tasted almost the same. Chop steak is "ground beef, seasoned, grilled and smothered with sautéed mushrooms, red wine Bordelaise sauce and crisp onion straws." This dish quickly became a favorite in my household. It is so good, that I decided to make my beef lengua last Pinoy Christmas Party the same way.



Ingredients:
1 lb minute steaks
1 small can (4 oz) sliced mushrooms
2 envelopes Lipton Recipe Secret Onion soup mix*
1-1/2 cup red wine (or water)
Frenchies french fried onions for topping.

*Note: If you are using the Campbell's french onion soup, use only 3/4 cup red wine/water.


Instructions:
Prepare the french onion soup as directed in the package, except use red wine (or plain water if you don't have red wine) for the liquid. Double the amount of red wine (or water) to allow for evaporation during pressure cooking. (alternative: Campbell's French Onion Soup)
Drain and sautee mushrooms. Set aside.
A few pieces at a time, brown each side of the minute steaks and set aside on the same platter you placed the mushrooms on.
Place back everything in the pot and add the soup mixture (or campbell's french onion soup with red wine/water). Let boil.
Cover. Pressure cook for 10 minutes (if you are using thicker slices like in stir-fries, you can extend to 15 minutes).
Stir and place on a platter.
Sprinkle with Frenchies fried french fried onions and serve with mashed potatoes or plain rice.

Note: If you are going to use beef lengua, prepare the lengua first (pressure cook for 30 minutes then peel off the white coating, then slice at 1/2-inch thickness. These will now be the substitute for minutes steaks.

Goodie Bars/Gooey Butter Bars

Goodie Bars/Gooey Butter Bars

Last time I worked, one of the CNA's came at 2PM and brought a tin can of cookies and bars. I had a taste of some of them, but this one really made me ask for a recipe. She did not have the recipe on hand, and just described the ingredients somehow, but promised me that she would write it down sometime and leave a copy in my mailbox.

You see, there was a time I was in a baking frenzy making "bars" using the recipes on Nestle and Hershey's chocolate websites, but after tasting several of them, I was sick all too soon with the sweetness, and I had a tough time cutting through the bars that they did not look at all like the ones in the photos (must be something I did wrong, but the results discouraged me from making them again). I cut them bite-size (because I could not tolerate a big chunk) but they lasted a whole month with nobody in the household taking a second serving. I chucked the whole batch then...hard and dry already. What a waste.

On the contrary, that goodie bar was something that I had to restrain myself from getting some more, so as to leave enough for the other co-workers. It was that good.

Well, as soon as I got home, despite the start of a migraine attack, I dreadfully faced the glare of my laptop to look for a recipe with the few ingredients I remembered my co-worker told me it had. This one came close. So last night I baked it (without the almond toffee bits because I mistakenly got a package of milk chocolate toffee bits instead and opted to just leave that out). The result???

It was the right recipe although it seemed sweeter.

After baking it for 45 minutes (because I was afraid the 50 mins recommended might dry up the whole thing), I let it stand overnight, with the pan resting on a cooling wire rack, the top protected by a sheet of paper towel. It was still super moist by the time I cut it (completely cold then) and I made a mental note to bake it for the full 50 minutes next time). I had a hard time cutting through because it was sticky, but nevertheless, it was so good, crunchy at the bottom and gooey at the top. After cutting them into bite-size pieces, I let them stand with enough space in between to further dry up the pieces.

The kids loved these. They munched quite a lot when they came home from school. They said, "This is really good!"

I let hubby taste it and he liked it alright. He said his mom made something like it when he was a child, but it was called Congo squares and with chocolate bits. However, he told me not to bother with those, because as long as I make the cookies that I made today with a cookie press, he'd be happy (I will post about it next).

Goodie Bars recipe by Mike and Alicia Orth of Creative Pixels

Cake:
1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar (you may want to try to mix in 12 oz first and taste the dough if you don't want it too sweet; optional to save some for sprinkling on top)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup almond toffee bits (optional)



1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.

2. With an electric mixer stir together the butter, cake mix and 1 egg. Spread into the greased pan and pat down. (I used a hand mixer.)

3. Still using an electric (hand) mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the confectioners' sugar and beat well. Reduce the speed and slowly pour in the butter. Mix well. Fold in the toffee bits (I did not).

4. Pour filling onto cake mixture and spread evenly. (Optional to sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top). Bake for 50 minutes. Don't be afraid to make a judgment call on the cooking time, because oven temperatures can vary. You want the center to be a little gooey, so don't bake it past that point!

How to Cook the Perfect Steak: Sous Vide Cooking

I don't remember how I stumbled upon a blog post by an American guy who shared what he did to produce a perfectly (and fully!) cooked steak that is medium rare (in appearance), tender and juicy. I can't even remember the blog, but it got me reading more into sous vide cooking.

As I read and learned more about the technique, and the very few affordable choices of home cooks, I set out to get the equipment I needed to add to my existing kitchen gadgets to take the plunge and see for myself. I chose the least expensive one: a PID thermostat coupled with my 6-qt slow cooker.

I was determined to learn this method because my husband is a steak eater (as much as I am a fried fish eater).

I have often wondered how restaurants always would come up with tender and juicy steaks even when very well done (as how my hubby always likes his steaks). At home we have our homegrown, grass-fed beef. While it sounds ideal and romantic, grass-fed beef are not exactly as great as those in the restaurants. Flavor is superb and the meat is really lean, and whatever bit of fat left is the good stuff, having had grass instead of grain providing the building material for the fatty acids. But consistency sucks -- tough and stringy -- what with all the freedom our beef had in their life span, and the lack of hormones. Not wanting to waste a lot of steaks this year as I did last year (I gave away a lot of unused steaks because I was getting discouraged), my readings on sous vide cooking gave me hope. Now I can see this household running out of steaks before the next year's supply comes. It seems like this was the way to cook steaks "very well done" without drying it up.

For this post, I used T-bone steaks, which already partly has tenderloin. Although I used 140 deg F (which gave the appearance of medium rare), I was explaining to hubby and kids about the technique (hubby was particularly intrigued with my PID temp controller and the seemingly elaborate and unusual setup), discussing about killing of pathogens at such temp for several hours of cooking, so that psychologically he was primed to see reddish middle of this fully cooked steak. I did brown the steaks in butter for a period long enough to make it as brown as possible without drying. However, I noticed that the longer the cut meat was exposed to air (and oxygen), the redder it got at the middle (a result of oxidation). Good thing I assured everyone already that that was fully cooked. With their concerns answered, they were reassured and pacified, and we all ate the steaks and savored the goodness...they were indeed excellent!

The next batch of steaks I cooked at 170 deg F. This time they were really brown...and tender and juicy.

So if you are interested, there is a sous vide cooker meant for home cooks at a whopping price of $449. Or, if you already have a good sized slow cooker, and are willing to invest on a PID temperature controller available in ebay for $156, here's how I prepared my first sous vide cooked steaks.

1. Thaw the steaks.

2. Season with salt and pepper (or spices...avoid fresh garlic as this can be over powering. If you want garlic flavor, use powder.)

3. Vacuum pack the steaks (I used food saver. Their plastic bags are food grade and are ok for low temp simmering.)

4. Place a spacer on each steaks (I used the lids for canning).

5. Stack the steaks inside the slow cooker and fill with water (spacer ensures the warm water bathes each steak all around).

6. Submerge the temperature sensor.

7. Cover the slow cooker, plug it to the PID temp controller, turn it on low setting, plug the PID into power supply, and set the PID thermostat to desired temp (see Table 2.3).

7. Allow at least two hours for the water in the slow cooker to reach the desired temperature according to Table 2.2 here. Then add the cooking time per recommendation in Table 2.3 if cooking thawed meat, or Table 2.4 if cooking frozen. Take note that this is the minimum time to ensure safety.I cooked mine for a total of 6 hours from turning on the unit.

8. Remove from pouches and wipe with paper towels.

9. Briefly pan-fry in butter (longer if you want it more brown).

10. Serve immediately.

More readings avaialable here in a downloadable pdf format.

HOW TO USE THE PID THERMOSTAT:

Make sure you are using a slow cooker or rice cooker that has manual controls instead of electronic.

Plug the cooker into the PID unit. Plug the PID into the power supply.

Turn on the slow cooker on low setting, place the sensor in the water in the slow cooker. Plug the PID into power supply.

Set the temperature and time (including the two hours to get the water up to the desired temp).

PID thermostat will beep when time is up.

So if you are interested in sous vide cooking, the equipment you need (if you are not getting the above mentioned sous vide cooker) are:

- a large capacity rice cooker or slow cooker with manual controls

- PID temperature controller

- vacuum sealer (I have Food Saver) and bags

Blue Ridge Mountain Chocolate Chip Cookies

Blue Ridge Mountain Chocolate Chip Cookies

A confession I have to make: I had always been afraid to bake chocolate chip cookies...until I tried this recipe.

Now why was I afraid? Well, I had always used the Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe at the label of the chocolate chips, and my stand mixer, then my cookies would always be flat. If I use the Choc-Oat Chip cookie recipe, they might not be that flat...but they are still too flat for me.

This is the first time I tried a recipe off recipezaar for a cookie. And this is the first chocolate chip cookie recipe that removed my anxiety over baking cookies.

I also realized that I should stick to creaming the butter within 30 minutes of being in room temp, and to only use hand mixer instead of the stand mixer.

Then maybe I will try again Nestle Toll House recipe...we will see if those were indeed the factors that make my cookies flat.

In the meantime, my kids are happy with these, and I am gonna have them in my recipe collection here in my kusina.


Blue Ridge Mountains Chocolate Chip Cookies


30 min | 10 min prep

2 -3 dozen

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups bleached all purpose flour (see note below)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Note: The recipe initially calls for 2 1/2 cups flour, but with the added note if you want them more softer and rounder cookie to add 1/4 cup flour. I add the 1/4 cup making it 2 3/4 cups total.

Cream shortening, butter, sugars, then eggs and vanilla and almond extracts.

Blend dry ingredients and add to mixture.

Stir in Chocolate chips.

Drop by large tablespoons (I use cookie scoop) onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving 2-inches room in between to allow cookies to spread.

Bake at 375° for 10 minutes until lightly brown.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies depending on size.

Pumpkin Cake Roll

I first tasted this when I visited my friend Fe, and I never thought I'd like pumpkin cakes of any sort, but I loved this, so I asked for the recipe. It was actually the recipe on which I based my ube cake roll.

Ingredients:

Cake 3 eggs
1 cup sugar (white)
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon

Filling1 cup confectioner's sugar
4 tsp butter
8-oz cream cheese (softened at room temp)
1/2 tsp vanilla


Instructions:


Preheat oven to 375º F.

Mix dry ingredients together except sugar.  Beat eggs and sugar until creamy yellow and frothy. Add pumpkin puree and blend well. Add dry ingredients and beat until just blended.  Pour onto a 15 inch x 10 inch jelly roll pan

Bake at 375º F for 15 to 18 minutes or until done. Meanwhile, place paper towels (or flour sack) on the countertop and generously sprinkle confectioner's sugar. When the cake is done, flip onto the sugared paper towels (or flour sack) and peel off parchment paper. Roll up like jelly roll both the cake and the towel and cool off completely.

Prepare the cream cheese filling by blending all ingredients well. Chill until ready to spread.

Unroll and spread filling then roll up again. Wrap with foil and refrigerate. Slice when ready to serve.

Easy Beef Stroganoff

 

This easy beef stroganoff is one taught by my MIL and that is loved by my whole family. I almost always have all ingredients in my pantry/freezer. Whenever I run out of ideas and want something quick, this is one of those that come to my mind. An all-time favorite in my family no matter what season, I can't imagine why it took me this long to figure out I don't have it yet in my blog!





Ingredients:
1 lb (wide) egg noodles
1 lb ground beef, sprinkled with some flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
(optional: some drops of worcestershire sauce and 1/4 cup of sherry)
1 small can sliced mushrooms
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom
some water (about 1/4-1/2 cup of water)
1 (8-oz) sour cream

Instructions:
Prepare noodles as directed in the package. While boiling water for this, start preparing the beef.

Brown ground beef. When it starts rendering oil, add the garlic, followed by the onions then mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add worcestershire sauce and sherry if desired.

Add the cream of mushroom. Put some water into the can to rinse out remaining cream and add to the pan. Stir well. Add some more water as needed to make a thick sauce. DO NOT be tempted to add too much because that sauce will get thinner once you add the sour cream. Simmer for about 10 minutes for flavors to blend well, stirring occasionally.

Turn off heat (for conduction cooktop) and add sour cream. Stir to blend. (For flame stovetop, turn the heat off after stirring to blend; sour cream should be just heated through).

New England Clam Chowder

New England Clam Chowder

One item we usually order during the cold winter months in a family-friendly restaurant is clam chowder. New England style clam chowder uses salt pork for the fat source traditionally (or so I have read), and is rich with the use of heavy cream. Hubby loves his with lots of saltine crackers. With the exception of my stepdaughter, who is bent to believe she is allergic to all seafood, our family l loves clam chowder.

I tried to recreate it at home as this is one of the comfort foods in this area. I based this recipe on Cooking For Engineer's site, and gained approval from my picky husband.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp oil (rendered fat from salt pork)
3 cans (6.5 oz minced clams in clam juice)
1 (8-oz) clam juice
1 big (1-lb or so) russet potato, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
dash of ground basil (optional)

Instructions:

Drain clam juice off from cans. Set aside the juice.

Render oil from salt pork.

Saute onion. Follow with diced potatoes and stir until potatoes are well coated with oil (this coating will help potatoes retain their shape and not easily crumble).

Sprinkle the flour and stir. Add the clam juice from draining, and the bottled one. Let boil. Season with salt and pepper (be careful as salt pork and saltine crackers are salty already).

Lower heat and simmer covered for about 20 minutes or until done, stirring occasionally to make sure potatoes don't stick to pan.


Add milk, heavy cream and clams, and heat without boiling (which will cause milk to coagulate and form clumps).

Enjoy with crumbled saltine crackers on top (or crumbled chicharon, like what my sons do).

(I served this tonight with potato peasant bread and fruit salad = combination of canned cocktail fruit, peaches, mandarin oranges, lychees, and palm seeds, topped with whipped cream.)

Eating Your Words

 

Tangled Noodle and Savor the Thyme posted this challenge to "write" or "spell" using food or drink. I thought it would be fun to join, although initially I could not think of what to "write."



Well, two nights ago, I was on duty, and my charge nurse warned me about the possibility of being RIF'ed after 10 PM (RIF=reduction in force, a cost-cutting measure where employees are asked not to come to work or go home if there are not enough patients). So when I came home after that duty, I resolved to sleep only 4 hours, thinking I must be able to sleep with my husband that night. However, as soon as I got to work, I learned that somebody else called out. That meant, I would have to stay and work the whole shift. Darn...

I told my charge nurse and the other nurse, "I feel sad that I can't go home....boohoo...my husband and I were planning on making whoopie tonight." And they laughed...Suddenly I knew what to "write" about.

You see, Mainers (or probably New Englanders) know the meaning of whoopie that is not the whoopie pie pictured above surrounded by the spelled whoopie.

Whoopie pies are my husband's favorite sweet snack, the reason why he gave me my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. He cannot eat the ones available in stores because "they don't make it the way Mom does." The difference being that his mom's recipe makes use of fresh egg whites for the filling; those sold in stores use fluff. His request then was for me to learn how to make whoopie pies from his mom, and I gladly obliged. Now I am making them as well, although I tweaked the recipe to make double batch, and to make use of egg yolks in the batter instead of throwing them away after making the filling.

While baking these, my husband was eagerly waiting, and as soon as I took the above photo, he was standing beside me and saw it, laughed, and asked if he could have that one in the middle (the first one assembled as whoopie pie), which of course he could. He took a bite and said, "You make the best whoopie pies." Now the letters are sandwiched and hidden...My fridge is stocked with them whoopie pies, which will probably last 2-3 days...Hubby and older son particularly like eating them with milk, I with coffee.

Whoopie pies are very popular here in Maine, but I make them only about twice a year or so because they are heavy on cholesterol and sugar...and this way, they are a real treat when I do make them.

And yes, hubby and I are making whoopies tonight. :)

Recipe can be found here.

UPDATE:
Round-up of the entries by the challengers is posted here and here.

As a reward for participating in the fun event, I got the following badge!



Thanks to Savor The Thyme and Tangled Noodles for hosting this challenge!

Baked Mac&Cheese with Ham & Brocolli

From Baked Mac&Cheese with Ham & Broccoli

The ham I used in this baked mac&cheese was leftover from New Year's Eve supper. In this part of the USA, we do not really celebrate NY. But the great contrast in comparison with Philippines where NY is celebrated with big bang (and also greeted with gunshots and sirens of fire trucks or ambulance), along with a bountiful table to invite prosperity to one's home, made me want to prepare a

From Christmas

small special supper, which consisted of roasted ham, black eyed peas sautee, and rice and potatoes. With this small "feast" we still ended up with lots of leftovers (what can you expect with 4 eaters?). Over the next days I ate the black eyed peas which I cooked like how I would mung beans (munggo guisado), and so was getting better and better the longer it sat in the fridge.

But the ham remained for some time in the fridge...waiting to be re-invigorated.

From Ham & Onion Omelet

One of the ways I cooked the ham was as omelet, with chopped onions as its companion.My sons loved this.

Another way I cooked ham leftover was to add

From fried rice with ham cubes

it to fried rice along with frozen veggies (carrots and peas). Actually, my older son was the one who cooked this.

I had lots of cheese leftover too, from having eaten chili, plus I always have Velveeta and parmesan cheese in the fridge. And so, I looked for recipes for homemade baked mac&cheese (since my husband is so fond of boxed mac&cheese, I figured he would love the homebaked more). I found one video showing how to cook it, and the cook also used leftover ham and some New England cheeses (Cabot brand).

I just added the broccoli leftover also (from that post on porterhouse steaks). As I expected, it was a hit with my hubby, as well as the kids (well, even stepd is a big fan of mac&cheese).

Ingredients:

6 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1&3/4 cup half and half cream
1&1/4 cup shredded cheese
1&1/4 cup Velveeta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3 cups diced ham
5 cups cooked macaroni
1 cup bread crumbs divided in two

Instructions:


Cook macaroni per package directions and drain.
Cook the rest of the ingredients as instructed in the slide show. Stirring CONSTANTLY is the key to avoiding making lumps.
Transfer to baking dish and bake at 350 deg F for 20 minutes.

This post is an entry to LaPiS with the theme Leftover.

Porterhouse Steaks

I gotta admit, steaks are probably my waterloo in cooking. Though we have plenty

From porterhouse steaks

stored in our freezer, I seldom cook them, or like I am almost always prepared to get disappointing results. The thing that makes it worse is that, to my husband, steaks+potatoes+boiled veggies is the equivalent to us Filipinos eating fried fish, sinangag, and ensaladang kamatis with camote tops. My husband just misses this type of meal if I get into the "more fancier" (as he sees it when I prepare something else) cooking. It seems no matter how I cook steaks, they always end up tough and chewy, except for the tenderloins. Until I started to try Adolph's tenderizer, the main meat tenderizing ingredient of which is papain...yeah, that enzyme you get from papaya (I remember having papain as a subject of our Science Project in High School).

Ingredients are so simple:

olive oil
porterhouse steaks
freshly milled (or ground) pepper to taste
Adolph's tenderizer
[ADD salt only after cooking!]

Equipment:

Iron cast pan
Iron cast griddle

Instructions:


After thawing steaks, wipe surface with paper towels and sprinkle pepper.

Heat the pan on high. Start the broiler on high, with the griddle on rack placed on the upper most level. The ridges of the griddle should be facing up.

Once pan is hot, spray (or wipe) with olive oil.

Sprinkle the tenderizer on the surface to be cooked and place on pan. Cook for 2 mins.

Sprinkle the raw surface with tenderizer and flip and cook for another 2 mins.

Place on the griddle and broil for additional 4-6 mins.

Serve with A1 steak sauce (hubby's fave; an acquired taste for me and my boys), potatoes and steamed veggies. Dont' forget the butter, salt and pepper!

My hubby ends up enjoying his "typical" meal.

Sloppy Joe

There was one time when hubby picked a can of Sloppy Joe, for one of those items to be added to the pantry for a quick fix supper (we had been doing more of this time-saving measure since I started working at home). I have tasted the canned one, and looked at (and tried to bury in my memory) the ingredients. I thought I probably could make my own (the control freak that I am strikes again!). This is my version of Sloppy Joe.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small can tomato sauce + 1 can water
1/4 cup ketchup (approximate)
3 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
Shredded cheese (for topping; optional; hubby likes it so)

Procedure:
Brown the beef. When it renders oil, remove extra oil and leave about 1 tbsp. Saute the garlic followed by the onion. Give it a dash of salt and pepper, then add the rest of the ingredients. Stir well, and let simmer for at least 10 minutes, then add salt and pepper to taste. You may try to adjust the sugar and ketchup as well. Serve on burger buns and top with shredded cheese as desired.

Chewy Brownies (A Mix-In-A-Jar Recipe)

Last December my younger son came home with a note about the class' celebration of Thanksgiving and a request for sending in a bread mix for the occasion. They would bake the mixes there. I looked for recipes of mixes at VeryBestBaking.com but I had no canned pumpkin to make a mix for the traditional pumpkin pie or bread. What I had was, as usual, the Nestle Toll House Choc Morsels. So I opted to prepare the mix for Chewy Brownies and instructed my young son to give it to his teacher when he gets to school.



He came back home that day still with the mix. Apparently he forgot (again) to give it to his teacher for their celebration.



I ended up baking it. It was my first time to bake brownies without Betty Crocker's help (that's one of my husband's favorite mixes). It was greeted with warm acceptance and eager mouths.



Here's a cut and paste of the recipe from the website.

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Baking Cocoa
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions:

LAYER ingredients in order listed above in 1-quart jar, pressing firmly after adding each ingredient.



NOTE: After adding cocoa, wipe out inside of jar with paper towel. Seal with lid and decorate with fabric and ribbon.



RECIPE TO ATTACH:

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Pour brownie mix into large mixer bowl; stir. Add 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) melted butter or margarine, 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons water and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; stir well. Spread into prepared baking pan. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar. Makes 2 dozen brownies.



You, together with your kids, may want to make this as gifts for relatives next Christmas (Chewy Brownie Mix in a Jar). Here's a free printable gift tag to go along with it. You will just need quart jars and some ribbons. For an idea of how it looks like, click on the recipe link I provided above.

Biscuits

I have long bought Bakewell Cream for something that I wanted to bake that called for cream of tartar. However, upon buying BC, I have forgotten what it was that I wanted to bake. So it sat on the shelf for quite a long time. There was a recipe for biscuit on the label. But because my concept of biscuits was different (flat and crunchy), I did not pay much attention to the recipe.



However, after several eat-outs, I have come to learn that biscuits are those that came with the meals and which I thought were rolls. They were like yeast breads, only with more tender consistency (not so chewy). My hubby liked it so much, and I do, too.



I decided to give the recipe a try. My first try was two days before my birthday, and the second was during my birthday.



Sorry I failed to take photos during the first steps.



Ingredients:



2 cups flour

2 tsp Bakewell Cream

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup cold milk



Instructions:



Mix and sift dry ingredients.

Add shortening and cut into the flour mix.

Add milk all at once, and stir quickly with a fork. (Some flours may require a little more liquid to make a nice soft dough.)

Turn out on floured boards and knead 5 or 6 times.

Roll of pat to 1/2" to 3/4 " thick. Cut with biscuit cutter. (I had none; I used the screw band of a pint jar.)



Bake at 475 deg F for 5 minutes. THEN turn off heat and leave in oven for 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown.



Biscuits, when fresh from the oven, have crunchy crust, in contrast to those served in restaurants which are quite soggy. I expected the biscuits to be the same, and was almost disappointed that they were crunchy. But hubby said, "Honey, they're biscuits. They are supposed to be crunchy. And I like these better than Mom's, because they are crunchy all-around, yet soft on the inside. Maybe Mom's biscuits have sides which are not crunchy possibly because they are baked side-by-side, without space in between. Please don't change a thing in the way you bake them."



Hmmm...does that mean those biscuits served at restaurants are just reheated in microwave so they are not crunchy?



I'll take hubby's words for it. As long as he enjoys it (and I do, too! though the kids will have to acquire the taste for it), I will bake it the same way I did the first time.



He gave me two gifts on my birthday, one of which is a set of biscuit-cutter...so my next biscuits will have waves around...haha!!!

Minced (Deer) Meat Pie

Nakatikim ka na ba ng usa? Si Pareng Joe of NJ, nakatikim na. We are going to exchange packages (he has just sent me a package of goodies from a Filipino store, and I will send him BBP pickles and empanadang minced deer meat.) But this post is not about tapa.



In this state hunting is one of the activities many people engage in, but they have to get a specific (as in turkey, doe, buck) license for that, aside from the license for carrying guns. My friend also told me that they do lottery for hunting.



My husband is fond of collecting guns, but hunting has never been appealing to him. His brother and his wife, though, like the outdoors, that the couple usually fish and hunt during the seasons.



Recently, my BIL shot a buck at the neck. They cleaned and slaughtered it and I had my supply of deer heart (which I cooked using Sassy's barbecued gizzard recipe. 'Twas good!) and liver.



My MIL cooked the neck for five hours, then patiently separated the meat from the bones and ground it, ending up with 7 quarts of deer meat, which she cooked to make "minced meat". I was invited to witness how to do it, the message being carried to my by my dear hubby (and I noted a hint of excitement while he was asking me whether I wanted to see how his mom does that). I told hubby I knew what mincing was, but was minced meat something that referred to a process of some sort? Yes it was, he said. Of course I was eager to see what minced meat was. I am just too eager to discover more about foods that my hubby enjoys.



Ingredients:



The proportions will all depend on how much ground meat you have.



ground previously cooked deer meat

apples (we used Cortland)

raisins

molasses (They said that in the grocery stores is no good. They get theirs at Agway here, which sells molasses dispensed from a bucket. One has to bring his own jar. $2/qt.)

salt

ground cinnamon

ground cloves

ground allspice

cider (Hubby said apple juice is cider minus the pectin content.)



Instructions:



Measure the meat.

Peel and slice the apples. It should be double the amount of minced meat.

For every quart of meat, measure 1/2 of 15-oz box of raisins. Ground 3/4 of this and leave the rest whole.

Combining them altogether, add the spices as follows: For every 8 qts of the meat-apple-raisin mixture, add 1 cup molasses, and 1 tsp each of salt, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.



Cook everything together in a stockpot over low heat, intermittently stirring for even cooking and to avoid scorching.



Add cider from time to time to keep the mixture moist.Continue simmering (and stirring) for about 2 hours (personally I think it can be done in one hour, as soon as the fruits are cooked and the flavors have mingled.)



MIL processed the quarts in a boiling-water canner for 40 minutes (My MIL let me go home, thanks to her! ) then told me to just have my hubby pick up some of them, because I told her I wanted to try to make the minced meat pie as soon as it was done.



So I did. According to her, she puts pieces of butter on top of the minced meat before putting the top pie crust.



Learning more about making fancier edges, I pressed the overhangs (I left about an inch from the edge) of the two pie crusts together, tucked them under, then using my fingers, created waves like so. Then I made slits on the top using a knife, wiggling the knife while still through the slits to make them wider, so that they would not appose again (In my first attempts at slits I was too hesitant with them, then they almost closed off!)



As usual, I brushed the top with my egg-sugar combination for that golden crust. However, maybe my sides were too elevated (especially against the not so high pile of the minced meat) that they got too browned (I have none of those aluminum pie edge covers, and I was too lazy to improvise with the use of ordinary aluminum foil. I was thinking that nobody in the family really cares about the edges. They only like the filling and the thin crust. I am the only one who really cares for the crust, more for that than the filling.) So here you can see almost-burnt edges. (I remember a time when I tried to make the edges lower than that of the pie plate because I had not enough filling; during the initial stages of baking, when the fat melted, the dough slid off the sides! I stopped it immediately and saved the filling then made another pie crust. It was for a pie version of leche flan. I was experimenting to make an egg pie of some sort.)



This was what was left when I remembered to take a photo of the sliced pie. The warm pie was runny. This one is cold already, so don't be fooled. We like the pie served warm with vanilla ice cream.



I prepared this pie the next day for supper, after having told my hubby about my plan. Then when I called him to the table with the pie and the ice cream there, he asked me. "What's for supper?"

I was puzzled. I said "That," pointing to the pie.

"Oh, you're not serving anything else? Because we eat Minced Meat Pie as dessert."

I said (I felt I was blushing), "I didn't know that...to us Filipinos, that could already count as a complete meal by itself, or a very heavy snack."

He shrugged, and savored it anyway, saying later that my pie crust is the best (despite the burnt edge! Haha!), and that the pie was indeed filling and delicious! (of course the credit for the filling goes to his mom).

My personal opinion on Minced Meat Pie: While it was good to discover new recipes traditionally prepared by my in-laws' family, and discovering a meat-fruit combination that my hubby actually likes (surprise! surprise!), I still prefer the chicken empanada. Maybe it's just because that's what I grew up with (and what he grew up with).

We're gonna have this on Thanksgiving, to be held at my SIL's house. But my MIL will be the one to prepare the pie. Walang nakatoka sa akin. Pero lagot ako sa Christmas. Dito naman kami sa bahay namin. Ngi!

Apple Pie

Using the pie crust recipe and method that I posted about earlier, I now ventured into making my second apple pie, this time, using Cortland apples (not McIntosh, which were too sour for me). According to food journalist and cookbook author Mark Bittman, the best apples for baking are Cortland or Ida Redor Paula Red (Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2003).



I used this recipe that my friend bingbing gave to me but eliminating the lemon juice, as I was apprehensive that the result might be too sour again.



Then upon friends at WK's suggestion of adding cardamom, and seeing a recipe at AllRecipes.com, I added 1/8 of allspice.



Then there was also the French apple pie that used a Streusel topping instead of a pie crust (I forgot where I got it. I just used the google search). I did that but still used a pie crust to top the Streusel topping.



It turned out to be the "Perfect Apple Pie" for my hubby, me, and my kids. (But I admit I still favor the Buko Pie in Laguna. Probably only because apple pie is not one that I grew up with.)



So here's the recipe (See Pie Crust post first and prepare crust-lined pie plate before preparing the filling):



Ingredients:



7-8 cups thinly sliced peeled baking apples

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

1/8 tsp allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt



Streusel topping (you may want to forget about the pie crust topping and have this instead)

1/3 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup cold butter



Eggwash (1 egg + 1 tbsp sugar, beaten)



Instructions:



Peel, core and slice the apples thinly. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cardamom; add to apples and toss.



Pour into crust; Prepare Streusel topping by mixing brown sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkling on top of the apples.



Dot with butter (I used the peeler. You may use grater for this purpose).



Put on top the second pie crust; cut slits on top. Brush eggwash over pastry.



Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 degrees bake 40-45 mins. or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.



(TIP: Place enough sheets of wax paper to cover bottom of the oven to catch overflowing juices. This will spare you the trouble of cleaning afterwards.)



Cool on a wire rack.



Eat when comfortably warm.



(I actually liked it better when it was cooled down and has sat in the fridge overnight. Not only is the pie firmer to cut without gooey juices flowing to the sides, the apple slices have also imbibed the flavors of the spices more.



My first apple pie made with McIntosh was too sour. A friend in WK, sognaluna (an American wife to a Filipino) suggested I eat the pie with vanilla ice cream. I tried, and even ate it with additional maple syrup, but the sourness was still too much for me. And when I noticed it was only me eating the rest of the pie (after the initial tasting by the other family members), I threw the last two big slices (1/4 of the whole pie). That night my hubby asked where the apple pie was, because he noticed that I had in the fridge the Jello no-bake cheesecake that he loves, I told him I threw the apple pie because nobody wanted it anyway.



"I like it...It's just that I have not been feeling too well in the past days. It would keep for a month..." I just shrugged, thinking..."yeah, right..."



Well, this time with Cortland, we easily consumed the pie, even without ice cream or maple syrup. Though I am foreseeing bags of Golden Delicious and Red Delicious apples, they are so good that we can eat them as is. No need to bake. Cortland is actually good enough to eat raw. Pretty much tastes like the apples that were sold at 3 for P20 in the Philippine Markets (if you bought them fresh), but not as good as Fuji apples.