Sunday, March 31, 2013

Slovak soul food - Paska (Easter bread) for Easter

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/04/06/slovak-soul-food-paska/?hpt=hp_c2

April 6th, 2012

02:00 PM ET

CNN photojournalist John Bodnar is a second-generation Slavic-American whose grandparents emigrated from Eastern Slovakia, and his mother’s Carpatho-Rusynethnicity is the prominent influence for his cultural and family traditions. Previously, he wrote about haluski.

Spring in Western Pennsylvania was all about the sounds of the birds, the smells of renewed life, and sights of the buds and green surrounding us. All of this seemed to happen suddenly, and with these changes we knew that Easter was soon upon us. The traditions of my mother’s Byzantine Catholic and my father’s Roman Catholicchurch were prevalent in our lives, and the sound and smells of these traditions were as stunning as spring.

paska

The author's mother grates cheese for the Paska dough.

After the Lenten fasts, prohibition of meat on Fridays and religious customs like the Friday Stations of the Cross, the Easter feast was always eagerly anticipated. The feast’s traditions, modified some over the years, were initiated by the blessing on the food baskets. The baskets of food were taken to the church and blessed by the priest. Only the foods that were blessed were eaten on Easter Sunday. Traditional foods like ham, kielbasa, cheese, eggs, butter and bread were in the basket for the blessing. Though they weren't eaten, the baskets were adorned with artful Pysanka eggs.

I’d like to introduce you to the Easter bread that we called Paska. It is a two dough bread that incorporates cheese and raisins, and the arduous process that can take up to SIX hours to prepare. There in no wonder that this bread was made only once a year. I can’t imaging how my grandmother, who had 10 children, could find time for anything, let alone spending so much time for baking bread, plus the rest of the meal preparation.

It will always be one of my favorite foods. I will occasionally make a small loaf, but it is never as good as Mom’s. When I visit her, frozen Paska is always “forced” upon me and I take it home with me. Outside the Easter tradition, it is amazing when toasted and covered with butter. Oh yes, did I mention Paska with a hot cup of coffee?

Paska

Ingredients

Cheese Dough

6 cups flour
24 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
7 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
1 Tablespoon salt
1 cup warm milk
3 packages dry yeast (mix with 1/2 cup warm water)

White Dough

6 cups flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 half cups milk
1 cup raisins
2 packages dry yeast (mix with 1/2 cup warm water)

Directions

Cheese Dough

Start the cheese dough first, since it will take longer to raise.

Grate the cheddar cheese

Put dry yeast into a small bowl with 1/2 cup of warm water to activate. Then add cheese to three cups of flour with the eggs in a large bowl and mix together. Once mixed, add the remaining 3 cups of flour and the activated yeast and finish mixing the ingredients, then add raisins.

Leave mixture in the bowl and let raise for an hour.

White Dough

Mix and raise the same as the cheese dough.

After the dough raises, take dough and make six equal sized dough balls, three white and three cheese.

Flatten the dough with a rolling pin into 12”-14” ovals. Place the flattened cheese dough on top of the flattened white dough, then roll the two into a 2” wide braidable roll. Repeat, and finish with six rolls.

Braid the three rolls, then let the braided dough raise again for an hour.

Brush with butter or egg glaze, and bake for 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees until it is golden brown.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Salted Whiskey Caramels

http://www.recipe4living.com/recipes/salted_whiskey_caramels.htm

Salted Whiskey Caramels

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Homemade caramels scented with vanilla and whiskey—sprinkled with a generous amount of sea salt. Your taste buds will never be the same.

Shared by AllisonSC,
IL

Ingredients

5 Tbs. butter
1 C. whipping cream
1/4 C. honey-flavored whiskey
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 C. sugar
1/4 C. light corn syrup
1/4 C. water
1 Tbs. coarse sea salt

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Directions

Line 9-inch square pan with parchment paper; spray with cooking spray.

In 1-quart saucepan, heat butter, whipping cream, whiskey, vanilla and salt to boiling, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; set aside.

In 3-quart saucepan, mix sugar, corn syrup and water. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. DO NOT STIR.

Boil until sugar turns a light golden amber color and candy thermometer reads 310°F.

When sugar mixture reaches 310°F, add cream mixture. Beating with whisk, cook until thermometer reads 248°F.

Pour caramel into pan; cool 10 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt; cool completely.

Cut into squares; wrap individually in parchment paper.

Recipe courtesy of Pillsbury

Avoid These Common Ham Mistakes This Easter

http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/avoid-common-ham-mistakes-easter-153700587.html

Avoid These Common Ham Mistakes This Easter

By bon appétit magazine | Shine Food – Fri, Mar 29, 2013 10:26 AM EDT

By Hunter Lewis, Janet McCracken and Mary-Frances Heck, Bon Appétit

Photo by Craig CutlerAny holiday that revolves around an centerpiece dish (ahem, turkey) can be stressful. Easter is all about the ham. Unfortunately, preparing this piece of meat isn't always straightforward, so we asked the test kitchen for a little advice.

Don't Buy Just Any Old Ham

It's Easter, not just another Sunday meal. Call your butcher to reserve a good-quality smoked bone-in ham instead of buying from the supermarket. If that doesn't work, there's still time to order from d'Artagnan.com (they'll even ship overnight). Whether it's bone-in or partially deboned, order a ham with some kind of bone in it. It will give you a sense of where to take the ham's temperature to determine doneness (see below), plus, that leftover bone will bring a soup or pot of beans to the next level. Also: Plan to buy at least 1 lb. of meat per person so you'll have plenty of leftovers.

Read More: Snacks You Thought Were Healthy But Really Aren't

Don't Skip the Liquid

Gently cook the ham with at least 1/2 cup of water, wine, or stock in the pan and cover it with foil to make sure the ham won't dry out (until you've applied the glaze--the the foil comes off).

Don't Use the Glaze Packet

The glaze that comes with the ham is garbage. Throw it out and make your own. Remember ourChristmas ham? That glaze works for this holiday, too.

Don't Glaze Too Early

To avoid burning the glaze, apply it 15-30 minutes before taking it out of the oven, and take a peek once in a while to make sure it's not burning.

Don't Be Shy With that Thermometer

Hams are often already cooked (they're usually smoked and boiled or baked), so don't go past an internal temperature of 145 degrees--it'll dry out. Stick a thermometer deep into the ham near the bone to get an accurate reading.

Don't Dig Right In

For the ham to be juicy, it needs some time to rest like any other piece of meat. Let it sit for about 20 minutes once it's out of the oven.

Old-Fashioned Ham with Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze

Recipe by Scott Peacock

10 servings

Ingredients

1 10 pound smoked ham with rind, preferably shank end

1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider

1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard

2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

What to Drink

Sauvignon Blanc is a good match for the ham and the asparagus, a notoriously wine-unfriendly ingredient. We like the Joel Gott 2006 Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley ($18), which has tropical fruit and citrus flavors with floral aromas and a crisp finish.

Read More: 26 Delicious Ways to Cook Spring Vegetables

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F. Place ham in large roasting pan. Pour apple juice over ham. Cover ham completely with parchment paper, then cover ham and roasting pan completely with heavy-duty foil, sealing tightly at edges of pan. Bake ham until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of ham registers 145°F, about 3 hours 45 minutes. Remove ham from oven. Increase oven temperature to 375°F.

Remove foil and parchment from ham. Drain and discard liquids from roasting pan. Cut off rind and all but 1/4-inch-thick layer of fat from ham and discard. Using long sharp knife, score fat in 1-inch-wide, 1/4-inch-deep diamond pattern. Spread mustard evenly over fat layer on ham. Pat brown sugar over mustard coating, pressing firmly to adhere. Drizzle honey evenly over. Bake until ham is well glazed, spooning any mustard and sugar glaze that slides into roasting pan back over ham, about 30 minutes. Transfer ham to serving platter; let cool at least 45 minutes. Slice ham and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Aunt Bette's 5-Hour Oven Stew

http://mrs4444cooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/aunt-bettes-5-hour-oven-stew.html

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Aunt Bette's 5-Hour Oven Stew

When you smell the aroma of this stew cooking, you will feel like a superstar cook; seriously. It's fantastic. It's also easy. Aunt Bette's stew obviously takes five hours to cook, so you do have to plan ahead, but it's simple to prep and takes care of itself once you put it in the oven.

Ingredients:

3 potatoes
2 sweet potatoes (our addition)
3 celery stalks
6 medium carrots*
green beans**
3 lb. chuck roast
1 T sugar
salt and pepper to taste (we like kosher salt)
4 T quick-cooking tapioca (baking aisle)

1 large can of tomato juice
1 French bread loaf (for at the meal)
*I know, I know; there's only one in the photo (Mr.4444 was running to the store for me when I took the photo.)
**Recipe calls for canned, but we wouldn't dream of it!)

We used this pan, which is 12" x 18" and about 3 inches deep. A Dutch oven would be fine, too, but we added even more beef that I told you about, and it made a huge amount that would not have fit in our Dutch oven.

First, wash and rinse the veggies. (I love Veggie Wash.)

Cut the celery into 1-inch chunks like this:

Peel the potatoes, but put them in water until they are all peeled, or they will turn icky colors while they wait.)

Slice the onion like this...

Make the bacon. Bacon?! What bacon? Why, the bacon you like to use as a weekend morning alarm clock for your teenage son! (Always the multi-tasker, I am!)

In case you were wondering how much snow we still have, I took the next photo on the deck. Put the sugar, tapioca (which looks a lot like sugar), salt and pepper in the same bowl, mixed.

Cut the fat off the meat and put it in a huge bowl with the veggies as you prep; it's easier to mix everything and then put it in your pan.

Cut the carrots like so...

And the potatoes/sweet potatoes, in eighths...

Here's proof that Mr.4444 has nice jeans, too! (And a nice butt, of course.)

Sprinkle half of the seasonings over the top of what you have so far. (You will not have this much meat, unless you are really into beef, like we are.)

Give it a good stir, sprinkling the rest of the seasonings and tapioca to get it all spread throughout.

Dump it into your pan

and pour tomato juice over all, just until barely covered (though it's not even necessary, according to my friend Jennie, so don't worry if you don't have enough :) Bake (covered) for five hours at 250 degrees. When you smell it cooking, that means it's just about done. Only then can you afford to check a potato.

Looks good enough to eat, doesn't it?! For instructions in how to eat this stew like a pro, click over to Half-Past Kissin' Time's Beef: It's What's for Dinner.

Quick Tip: Freeze Roasted Garlic

http://www.thekitchn.com/quick-tip-freeze-roasted-garli-135965

Quick Tip: Freeze Roasted Garlic

One of our secrets for adding deep flavor to quick soups (or any soups, for that matter) is to use roasted garlic. Although it can take up to an hour to roast garlic, it's easy to make ahead and freeze so you always have this aromatic, sweet ingredient at your fingertips.

We have shared three techniques for roasting garlic: baked whole, baked cloves, and on the stovetop. In all cases, let the garlic cool after roasting it and then remove any papery skins.

To freeze whole cloves, spread them out on a baking sheet and place in the freezer. Once frozen, store the cloves in a sealed plastic bag or container.

You can also mash the roasted garlic and freeze it in teaspoon or tablespoon measures in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop out the cubes and store them in a sealed plastic bag or container.

In addition to soups (try this Post-Holiday Restorative Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup!), frozen roasted garlic may be used in pasta sauces, mashed potatoes, and more.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Hard-Boiled Eggs: Why You Are Cooking Them Wrong

http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/hard-boiled-eggs-why-cooking-them-wrong-212300381.html#!c0yll

Hard-Boiled Eggs: Why You Are Cooking Them Wrong

By Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger | Team Mom – 2 minutes 54 seconds ago

The perfect hard boiled egg

Ahh spring, the season of daffodils and rubbery eggs with yolks the color of a mud puddle. Good luck getting the kids to eat them.

Also on Yahoo: Eggstra, Eggstra! Here's How and Where to Buy Eggs

When it comes to making hard-boiled eggs for the Seder plate or Easter basket, most people slide a dozen into boiling water, set the timer for 20 minutes or so, and walk away to let them jiggle around in the roiling depths of a metal pasta pot.

That's an excellent recipe for an unpalatable egg.

The tricky thing about cooking eggs is you are dealing with two different layers that cook unevenly: the white and the yoke. High, sustained heat toughens the proteins contained in the white. Overcooking on high also triggers the chemical reaction that causes that unappetizing greenish-grey film to appear around the yolk. Cooking for a shorter amount of time will allow the white to remain tender but yields a goopy yolk.

Furthermore, the feisty boiling water molecules that agitate eggs at the bottom of a hard pot may crack the shells as well. While commercial egg dyes claim to be non-toxic, there is something creepy about eating the turquoise or magenta veined eggs that emerge from broken shells.

PHOTOS: Easter Bunny Pictures Scary Enough to Haunt Your Dreams

Slate points out that a better way to achieve the perfect hard-boiled egg is, in fact, to treat it softly. Place in cold water, gently bring to a low boil, and immediately turn off the heat and cover the pot tightly with a fitted lid. Let sit for 10-11 minutes, rinse with cold water, and voila, the perfect "hard" boiled egg. Renowned food scientist Harold McGee even prefers to call them "hard-cooked eggs"because you aren't actually boiling them.

RECIPES: Amazing Egg Recipes from The Shine Supper Club

If you've been butchering—I mean boiling—your eggs for years, you may feel skeptical. Try one egg, you'll be delighted with the toothsome white and firm, golden yoke.

Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

A dozen eggs

Large pot (eggs should not be crowded at the bottom)

Cold water

Cover eggs with cold water. Don't crowd—you may need to cook in two batches depending on the size of pot. Gently bring to a low boil. As soon as you see a few bubbles turn off the heat and cover the pot firmly. Let sit undisturbed for about 10 minutes. This method is forgiving, an extra minute or two won't ruin your holiday eggs. Rinse the eggs with cold water or place in an ice bath to stop cooking.