recipes – Page 34 – The Kitchen Illiterate

Mayan Chocolate Brownies

I have been using the same brownie recipe for years. I mean, since I was about 8. It’s from a kid’s cookbook that is still on my shelf, and is still used, because frankly it’s pretty awesome. The brownie recipe is a stand-by, an old faithful. I even did a science experiment in eighth grade that revolved around this brownie recipe. I’ve never used another one, until today.

I was prompted to abandon my old friend for a few reasons: I only have unsweetened cocoa and unsalted butter in the house, and really didn’t feel like getting into conversions and substitutions and figuring how much extra blah blah blah. And I came across this recipe yesterday that involves a pretty interesting technique I’ve never really used before. And I realized that maybe, after almost twenty years of cooking the same brownies, it might be acceptable to try something new.

I also had an inclination to try to recreate my new favorite ice cream flavor in brownie form. The Haagen-Daaz Mayan Chocolate ice cream is pretty spectacular. I’ve taken to eating a spoonful after dinner pretty much every single night. I can’t stay away. It seemed natural to turn it into my favorite chocolatey dessert: a brownie.

Continue reading Mayan Chocolate Brownies

Potatoes on Pizza is Genius!!!

Potato, Sage, and Rosemary Pizza

One of the best and most ingenious pizzas I’ve ever had is a Bella Luna speciality, the Manny’s Grand Slam: mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese, bacon, scallions, and sour cream. It is good. It is immediately what I thought of when I saw a recipe for a Potato, Sage, and Rosemary Pizza in this month’s Bon Appetit. While I have never tried to re-create the Manny’s at home, I realized that I had all the necessary ingredients for the Bon Appetit pizza, and that the magazine also featured an easy-looking pizza dough recipe. Gilmore Girls and pizza Tuesday night seemed like an obvious combination to me.

This is one of the only times I’ve ever followed a recipe exactly. I didn’t add anything, I didn’t leave anything out, I didn’t substitute or get inventive at all. It sounded so good as written, and I do believe it was one of the best dinners I’ve made in awhile. The flavors blended perfectly. The pizza dough really was insanely easy to work with, and cooked up evenly (though it’s not as flaky as I like; I’m still in search of the perfect recipe). Both my housemates gave it many thumbs up, and I was right–pizza is a perfect complement to Gilmores. Of course, I can’t imagine Lorelei and Rory eating any pizza with potatoes on it, but I, for one, think potatoes on pizza is genius.

Continue reading Potatoes on Pizza is Genius!!!

February Chili, warming up before the storm

February Chili

The first chili of the season, back in September, was so insanely spicy it was almost inedible. It caused our dinner guests to request hair dryers and towels, they were sweating so profusely. It was accidental burn-your-face-off chili because I had never used chipotles before, and added in about twelve of them. Yeah.

I decided it was time for another batch of chili this week. The temperatures have been below freezing for the past 2 weeks, and tomorrow we’re supposed to be hit by the first monster storm of the winter. Even without the chipotle overdose, my chili tends to be on the hotter side, and this time around I wanted to see if I was even capable of toning it down a bit. I also tried out a new secret ingredient, and went 100% vegetarian, so housemate #2, Alex, could indulge and warm up with us. I have to say, I think this is one of my better versions–without the excess of spice, you could actually taste the other things in there! Of course, I’m sure I’ll never reproduce it exactly this way again. I don’t think I’ve ever made the same chili twice. But this one will go down in my memory as one of the best.

Continue reading February Chili, warming up before the storm

Making English Muffins isn’t as easy as I thought.

Softballs or muffins?

I don’t know why it got into my head that I wanted to make English Muffins. I kept seeing various blog postings about making them, and it seemed intriguing. Plus everyone kept saying how easy it was, so it seemed a natural for a dough newbie like myself. Oh, and I love English Muffins; they are a long-time breakfast staple in my world. How awesome would it be to have English Muffins I made myself? Well, I’m not entirely sure what I did wrong, but they are not so awesome, as it turns out.

I ended up with non-nooked and crannied, dense and heavy, burnt-on-the-outside-and-uncooked-in-the-middle English Muffins. It was such a sad moment! It was the first time I’ve ever had to throw away half of what I had just cooked! I have a few guesses about what I did wrong: the skillet I used probably wasn’t heavy enough, and I think I should have chosen a different recipe. I also didn’t give the dough a second, 15 minute proofing rise, which might have improved them a bit, though I’m not entirely sure what that does.

What I was left with is certainly not inedible. In fact, they are pretty tasty. They just aren’t what I think of as English Muffins. I will definitely be trying this again.

Continue reading Making English Muffins isn’t as easy as I thought.

I made kick ass Potato Leek Soup!

Potato Leek Soup

Please excuse my cheek, but I thought this soup was doomed from the beginning. I let the leeks brown, and the milk boil, and every taste promised blandness. But once I sat down with a piping hot bowl and ate it up, I realized that, holy crap, I made kick ass Potato Leek soup! Which leads me to realize that yes, I can make up a recipe completely on the spot and it just might turn out ok. Whew.

Every recipe for Potato Leek soup I looked at just seemed…not what I had in mind. Right, you’re thinking, Potato Leek soup is pretty basic, how could it be not what she had in mind? I don’t know, maybe I was just feeling contrary. And because this soup is pretty basic, I figured I could figure it out on my own, yeah? I few tips on leeks (specifically, don’t burn them because they will taste bitter), some basic knowledge of cooking with milk and boiling potatoes, and a hint about hot stuff in blenders, and I was ready to go.

Continue reading I made kick ass Potato Leek Soup!

Grilled Eggplant and Roasted Red Pepper Panini

Eggplant sammies

Last night required another super speedy dinner plan: I had only twenty minutes until Gilmores. Yes, I am terribly addicted to the Gilmore Girls. Who would have thought it, right? I, queen of cynicism and snark, book-readin’ and CSPAN-watchin’, I watch the Gilmore Girls? A television show was sponsored by Focus on the Family? (Or so the rumor goes. Can anyone confirm this?) Yes, I like to thank my old housemates, Laura T and Julia, for sending me down the path to ruin, by introducing me to the wit and spark that is the Gilmores, oh those several years ago.

Point being that after having a drink with Mr. X and rushing home after said drink, I had only twenty minutes to assemble something edible. Well, these sandwiches were not just edible, they were delicious. I think they were both completely digested five minutes into the show (which was pretty moving, despite my severe disappointment with this entire seventh season).

Continue reading Grilled Eggplant and Roasted Red Pepper Panini

Penne with Italian Tuna, Roasted Tomatoes, and Artichoke Hearts

Penne with Tuna, Tomatoes, and Artichoke Hearts

One thing I have always had a weakness for is canned tuna. I grew up eating it in macaroni and cheese, and to this day making boxed mac and cheese without tuna just doesn’t seem right. When I saw a can of imported Italian Tonno (or, yeah, tuna), and almost that same day happened upon a recipe for a basic pasta dish involving said Italian tuna, I had to try it out. Of course, I tweaked it a little because I had a bunch of other stuff in the refrigerator I wanted to use, and because I’m almost never content to do just what the cookbook tells me.

All in all, this only took about 20 minutes to make, so it’s a good week night dinner. I would probably use a little more pasta next time, though, to balance out the tuna. I usually only cook about 3/4 of a cup of pasta per serving, which often is more than enough. This time, though, I should have thrown in a little more.

The Italian tuna really is slightly different from the Chicken of the Sea or Bumblebee or whatever crap I usually buy. Maybe that’s because it’s packed in oil, and I never buy tuna packed in oil. Or maybe it’s actually the tuna itself. It seemed a little more buttery, or salty. I can’t really find any Tonna vs. Tuna references, so if any of you have a clue, let me know.

Continue reading Penne with Italian Tuna, Roasted Tomatoes, and Artichoke Hearts

Corn Potato Chowder and Dinner Rolls

Corn Chowder

My apologies for the late update–today was a particularly difficult Monday morning. The Corn Potato Chowder dinner was actually Friday night’s, courtesy of Crystal and her family recipe. I decided to make basic dinner rolls, to continue my current obsession with dough and baking. I’m not sure how well I’m going to be able to reconstruct chowder making: There was a lot of wine consumed Friday night. But I’ll do my best.

Crystal’s made this chowder a few times before, and I always like it. She said it wasn’t as good this time, but I still thought it was good. It’s a very starchy chowder, heavy on the potatoes, but overall pretty healthy, I think. You can definitely taste the corn. And the bacon. Mmm. Bacon. She did say that this is a recipe you can tweak a bit, so I’m sure if I don’t get it exactly right here, it will still be good. The bread, thankfully, I can reconstruct exactly. I might go with less sugar in the future, but they were loved by all at the dinner table, so I should stop criticizing them, probably.

Continue reading Corn Potato Chowder and Dinner Rolls

Pasta e Fagioli, mostly

Pasta e Fagioli

Last night it was cold, and I lost my hat, and I was super tired from staying up until 1 am the night before, and I really, really wanted soup. Good soup. Hearty, filling, not-from-a-can soup, and I wanted it quick. Nothing complicated, or time-consuming, or that would make me stand over a stove for a long time. This soup exactly fit the bill.

I think it’s a pretty traditional Pasta e Fagioli, but in my cursory research, I couldn’t really find a definitive Pasta e Fagioli reference. I figure, though, that it contains both Pasta and Fagioli, so that’s close enough for me. Plus, since I got the recipe from Eating Well, it’s even good for me and stuff. Of course I ended up with way more than I expected, so I’ll be eating this for a few days, but no matter, it is good. And warming. And full of vegetables and good stuff. Did I mention that it was also easy?

Continue reading Pasta e Fagioli, mostly

Makin’ Crackers

Homemade Crackers

The other night I found myself with a serious craving for crackers and hummus. See, I don’t have a sweet tooth so much as a salty carb tooth, and I really wanted crackers. Alas, I was also so poor I couldn’t even afford a packet of saltines, but I did have some flour in the pantry. Ding ding ding! I could make crackers!

Well, the only recipe I found in The Joy of Cooking that night involved yeast and rising times, and since I didn’t really want to wait until midnight for crackers, I forgot the whole idea and finished watching my movie, snackless. The next day, though, I went onto the interwebs, and lo! with the wonders of technology I found plenty of yeast-less cracker recipes of all types.

What I decided to make is a variation of a recipe for sesame wheat crackers. I didn’t have sesame, and what I really wanted were rosemary crackers, so I just did a little changing and a little tweaking, and in less than an hour I had my own homemade and carb-craving-satisfying crackers.

Continue reading Makin’ Crackers