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.
Cloverleaf Dinner Rolls
(recipe from Epicurious and Prairie Home Breads)
- 3 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3/4 c. milk
- 1 1/4-ounce package of active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
- 1/2 c. of warm (110F) water
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 6 T. unsalted butter, melted
This dough was not particulary easy to work with, and I suspect in future, I might do a few things differently–do let the butter come to room temperature, and perhaps cut it up into smallish cubes. Also, I’m not sure that the water I used was 110F, which might have had an effect on my yeast, but they seemed to turn out alright…
Put the butter, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. (Here, I might consider creaming this all together, but the recipe doesn’t say to do that.) Heat the milk in a small saucepan until just warm; pour it over the butter mixture, and let it cool. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until the yeast gets frothy.
Stir the yeast mixture into the butter/milk mixture. Beat in the egg, and then add the flour, beating until you have a soft dough. (I added the flour a cup at a time, and it might be better to just go for it and add it all at once. The dough was wayyyy too sticky to start, and was hard to mix.) Once everything is well incorporated, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for awhile.
Two hours before you want to bake them, turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and divide it in half. Then divide each half into six parts, and each of the six pieces into three pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, dip in the melted butter, and place in a muffin tin, three balls to a muffin cup. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for an hour and a half in a warm place, until the rolls have doubled.
Preheat the oven to 350F, and bake the rolls for 15 – 20 minutes, until they’re golden on the top.
These were pretty basic dinner rolls. It might have been interesting to add some herbs or something, but as I said, they got pretty rave reviews, so I should maybe shut up now. Anyway, another bread experiment successful. Yay!
Corn Potato Chowder
(recipe pretty much from the Combs family, but I think I’m getting some things wrong)
- 2 small yellow onions, diced
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 3 medium carrots, halved and sliced
- 4 large Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1/2 lb. of bacon
- 2 c. chicken stock or broth
- 2 c. frozen corn
- 1 c. milk
- a few dashes each of dill, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper
Cook the bacon in a large stock pot until it’s done, and has rendered out a lot of its fat. Remove the bacon and let it drain on paper towels, and add the onions to the bacon fat in the pan. Cook the onions for a few minutes, and add the carrots and celery. Let the mirepoix cook for about 10 minutes, until the veggies release some of their water, then add the potatoes and the chicken stock. Add enough stock (and maybe water) to cover all the veggies, and let it cook until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.
Cut up the bacon, and add it, along with the corn, milk, and seasoning, to the stock pot. Stir it all around, and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes more, so the corn can cook and everything can get all flavory together.
I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s done. Maybe Crystal will be kind enough to correct me if I’ve left anything out.
It was a pretty hearty dinner for a cold, cold night, and after lots of chowder and rolls and cheese, and about 7 bottles of wine between four people, we were feeling plenty warm. And drunk. And happy. At least until the next morning.
And, er, as a bonus, here’s what Mr. X and I ate last night, while watching the Super Bowl.
I was on a serious sodium high. I mean, I could literally feel it coursing through my bloodstream. It was pretty fun, until I crashed and burned, but whatever, I think you’re required to eat crap during the Super Bowl. And yes, that is Velveeta Salsa dip on the right. God that is some good stuff.