Sugar

This is Sugar, my brother's dog. This is her graduation picture taken by her teacher. Dave has had her in scent classes. I am sure it has a more official name, but that's calling it like it is. Nose training. Just looking at this makes me smile, so I wanted to pass it on to you.

Brandied Pork Chops

The dinner is out of the oven and we are done eating, the verdict? It's a hit! The cookies are going into the oven now. We are pigging out! So here is the dinner recipe. I used thick cut pork chops that we cut off of a pork loin.

1T olive oil
8 small potatoes diced in half
2-3 medium sized onions sliced thin
4 carrots sliced diagonally
salt and pepper
1-2 sprig thyme
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
4 pork chops at room temp
1/2 c brandy (use a good quality)
8-12 pitted prunes
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1 c water

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. In a large dutch oven heat the oil over medium heat (on stove top). Add the veggies (potato, onion, and carrots) to the pan and heat for about 5-10 minutes until they glisten or are shiny. Add some salt and pepper. Stir in. Add the herbs and stir. Add prunes. Personally, I do not like prunes but they added a nice sweetness to the dish.
Take the pork chops and put salt and pepper on both sides. Move the veggies out to the sides of the dutch oven and add the pork chops. Cover with tight fitting lid, or if your lid is loose, put tin foil over the pan and place lid on. Put in oven to cook for 1 hour.
When you take the pan out of the oven, carefully uncover. Be careful removing the lid so the steam does not give you a facial. Remove the chops onto a plate and place the tin foil over them to keep them warm and moist. Place dutch oven over medium heat, add the 1c water to the pan and stir. You want to loosen the veggies or potatoes that may be stuck to the bottom of the pan and bring the liquid to a boil to make a gravy with the pan juices. Smash up some of the prunes into the juice and they will disintegrate into the juices.
Serve with a nice warm bread. Rye would be really nice.

General happenings

So, I have made the cover recipe on the Dorie Greenspan cookbook, Around my French Table, and can say, wow it was really, really good. The second recipe is in the oven cooking. This one I took creative licence and am making it my own. Pork chops instead of chicken. Carrots, potatoes, and onions and some brandy for the liquid. We shall see how it turns out....

I have been on a yogurt kick lately. As in trying to make it. The first batch was ok, kind of runny. Half of it was allowed to drain in the cheese cloth and it was really nice and thick, like cream cheese. Easy thing to fix, just add a few drops of the whey back in and creamy again. My wonderful husband is the yogurt snob. Only likes certain textures and tanginess. My goal is to make yogurt that he will like. It sure does taste better than store bought! As soon as I make it a few more times, I will post a recipe and the how to.

I recently discovered a new blog by Dorie Greenspan. After several weeks of reading her entries and looking at her recipes and videos I decided to purchase her new cookbook, Around my French Table. Honestly, I was intrigued by the picture on the front of the cookbook! A large pot with chicken, vegetables and pie crust around it. Looked yummy.

This past week I have been going through the cookbook and marking pages or recipes that I want to make. Today was the first one. The roast chicken and vegetables in a large dutch oven sealed with crust. There are no pictures, yes, my husband asked if I should take some photos and I was more interested in eating than picture taking.

The vegetables and chicken were tender and flavorful. The star of the dish was the potatoes and the juice. After we ate our dinner, we each had a slice of bread on the plate soaked in juice with a few veggies over the top. To die for! Next time I will take pictures.

Nutella Bread

One of the blogs I routinely follow, Wild Yeast, had a really great looking picture/recipe using peanut butter and nutella for a filling. What's not to like I thought? So I gave it a try this past week. It was better than I imagined it would be. The only thing that didn't work out well was getting the nutella/peanut butter mixture off of the parchment paper. I would freeze it for 1 hour, not 1/2 hour. But, the taste and texture were sublime, especially warm from the oven.

I used the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes technique for the dough, whole wheat sandwich bread. That was the day we had bread for dinner. Yes, just bread!

Sour Dough Bread

A big Thank You to Terri for sharing her sour dough starter or "mother" with me. This has been a vehicle for some of the best all purpose breads I have made. It toasts nicely, is great for grilled cheese, sopping up juice, you name it and this bread does it. It works well shaped as a baguette, or as a boule (round). It also goes well with the cheese and butter making since the by products of each, whey and buttermilk go great in this bread.

Here is the link to make your own sour dough starter and for the recipe: http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/sour.htm This site does not give specifics on liquid to add, this depends on how hydrated your starter is. I have found between 1/2 to 1c of liquid works the best. Start with the smaller amount and work up as needed. The recipe calls for 3c flour, I often use 1c of whole wheat flour and 2c of bread flour.

If shaped in a boule or baguette, I bake at 370 degrees for 20 minutes then turn the bread 180 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes until golden brown and the bottom thumps with a hollow sound. Get out and bake some bread!!

Making Butter

Who knew that making butter would have so many spins to it? I just discovered cultured butter. Who knew there was such a thing? Not me! Here's the article: http://www.doriegreenspan.com/2007/04/better-butter-a-tasting-and-a-recipe.html

My raw cow milk (for pet food consumption only) has been in the fridge, undisturbed for a day so I can see the separation of the cream. I used a baster to suck up the cream and put it in a clean quart jar with the lid on tight. This gets left out on the counter to warm up to room temperature overnight. Then after breakfast I will sip on my coffee and shake the jar.

After 10-15 minutes of jar shaking, butter chunks are floating in the jar. Take a large spoon and gather the butter which is floating at the top of the jar. I just took the spoon and press the butter into my hand to remove more of the liquid and butter is made. Take the leftover liquid, which is butter milk, and use in bread, oatmeal, or other baking projects. Or drink it yourself or give it to your dog or cat. My dogs really, really like the leftover buttermilk.

Don't have access to raw milk? Just use heavy whipping cream, or look in your local health food store for un-homogenized milk.

Long Siesta

It has been about two years since I have posted and much has happened in that time. The death of my mom, a lot of turmoil in my immediate family, work and life in general has kept me busy. But, I feel the call to write and share my latest kitchen experiments...coming soon.