We bought this ridiculously large bag of all purpose flour from this warehouse store. Truenorthgal really loves to bake so we thought it was a good purchase. Past forward a year later and the bag is still there. Usually I leave the baked goods to her but as she is busy with work, I thought I would take a crack at it. Here I made an Applejack Apple Cake. I could not find a decently priced bottle of calvados so the friendly fellow from my local liquor store suggested applejack.
Applejack Apple Cake
Time: About 1 hour, plus one hour’s resting
2 sticks butter, softened, more for greasing pan
Flour (if using bundt pan)
2 medium apples (about 8 ounces), peeled, cored and quartered
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup bourbon, Calvados, Cognac or brandy
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch rectangular pan with butter, or butter and flour a 9-inch bundt pan. Put apples in a blender or food processor and purée; remove and set aside.
2. In food processor, combine 1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons) with 1 1/2 cups sugar and pulse until combined. With motor running, add eggs one at a time. Add apple purée and process until just combined.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add about a third of flour mixture to apple mixture in food processor. Then, with motor running, add about half of milk; add another third of flour, followed by rest of milk, then finally last of the flour. Process until batter just evens out.
4. Turn batter into prepared pan and bake until middle is set (your fingers should leave only a small indentation when you gently press cake), 45 to 50 minutes. When done, cool in pan for about 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, combine 1 cup liquor in a small pot with remaining butter and sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and liquid is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, then pour over cake; let it sit for at least an hour before serving. (For bundt, let it sit for an hour, then unmold). Store at room temperature, covered with waxed paper, for up to 2 days.
I also had a craving for fish tacos. A while back I went to Atlanta for some training and surprise surprise there was a Baja Fresh restaurant there. I promptly ordered the fish tacos and they were good. Anyway, so whenever I get a chance I try to order fish tacos if it was available. Here I started making tortillas.
Grandma Salazar's Tortillas
Adapted from Traci Des Jardins
Time: 25 minutes plus 20 minutes to 1 hour for dough to rest
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons bacon drippings, lard or vegetable shortening.
1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add bacon drippings and mix by hand or with a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly. Slowly mix in 1 cup cold water. Add just enough additional water (about 1/3. cup) to make a smooth, slightly sticky dough.
2. Divide dough into 12 balls of equal size. Place on a board or baking sheet and cover with a kitchen towel; allow to rest for at least 20 minutes or up to an hour.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll tortillas into 8-inch rounds. Place between sheets of waxed paper. At this point dough may be covered and refrigerated until cooking time, or used immediately.
4. Heat a griddle over medium heat. Remove tortillas from waxed paper and cook one at a time until puffy and slightly brown, about 30 seconds a side. Wrap in a clean kitchen towel to keep warm until serving.
Once the tortillas were done, I proceed to make the salsa verde.
Salsa Verde
Ingredients:
1 cup water
4 tomatillos (husks removed)
2 jalapeno peppers
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 lime (juice and zest)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Place the water and tomatillos in a pot.
2. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Place everything but the water in a food processor and blend.
Finally, I start making the fish itself. Yep, it was a long night but I could not wait to taste the results.
Fish Tacos (from Food Network but I added my own touches)
1 lb tilapia fillets
1/4 cup canola oil
Juice from 1 lime
1 tbsp chili powder
1 chopped jalapeno
1/2 cup cilantro
1. Whisk together the oil, lime juice, chili powder, jalapeno and cilantro. Pour over fillets and let marinate for 20 minutes.
2. Heat up your grill. Place marinated fish on grill and flip after 4 minutes. After about a minute, remove fish from grill and let it rest for about 5 minutes.
Here is my fish taco dinner.
On another night, I had some left over shrimp. I haven't used my chopsticks for a while now so I thought about making a chinese dish. Here is what I had:
Stir-Fried Shrimp With Black Beans
Time: 30 minutes
1 1/2 tablespoons black bean garlic sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry or white wine
About 1 1/2 pounds uncooked shrimp, in the 20 to 30 per pound size range, peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 clove garlic, sliced, and 1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1 pound bok choy or other cabbage, trimmed, washed and dried
2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon peeled and minced or grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup minced scallions
3/4 cup water
1. In large bowl, marinate shrimp in 1/2 teaspoon sugar, sliced garlic, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil.
2. Separate bok choy leaves from stems; chop stems into 1/2 - to 1-inch pieces, and roughly chop leaves.
3. Preheat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil and raise heat to high. When it begins to smoke, add minced garlic and, immediately thereafter, shrimp and its marinade. Cook shrimp for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon it out of wok or skillet.
4. Put remaining peanut oil in wok or skillet and, when it smokes, add ginger, followed immediately by bok choy stems. Cook, stirring, until bok choy is lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes, then add leaves. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute, then add 3/4 cup water and let it bubble away for a minute.
5. Return shrimp to wok or skillet and stir; add black beans and their liquid, scallions, and remaining sugar and soy sauce. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Turn off heat, drizzle remaining sesame oil on top, and serve.
I have on occasion purchased a bag of chocolate chip cookies, popped a couple of them into the microwave and been disappointed. So I said to myself time to make my own batch of chocolate chip cookies! Hey, I have to finish of about 36oz of semi-sweet morsels anyway.
Chocolate Chip Cookies (Joy of Cooking 2006 Ed)
1 cup and 2 tbsp of flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375degF. Whisk together flour and baking soda.
2. Beat in a separate bowl the butter and sugars.
3. Add to the mixture the egg, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Beat until well combined.
4. Pour in flour mixture until the the texture of the mixture looks somewhat grainy. Add in the chocolate chips/morsels.
5. Drop a heaping spoonful of the mixture onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Leave about 2 inches of space between drops.
6. Place sheets into the oven for about 8 minutes or until the cookies are slightly brown.
7. Once done, let cookies stand then place on racks to cool.
Hmm, I think I need something spicy in my life. Truenorthgal really loves these thai meatballs we made a while back. I just did it because I wasn't using that particular cookbook for a while now.
Fragrant Thai Meatballs (based on a recipe in wok & STIR-FRY)
1 lb ground pork
1 tsbp chopped garlic
1 finely chopped tanglad
4 scallions finely chopped
2 tsbp chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsbp red curry paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp patis
1 egg
flour for dusting
peanut oil for frying
fresh ground pepper
sprigs of cilantro for garnish
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp red curry paste (or more if you really want it spicy)
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp unsalted peanuts
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup gata
1. Heat vegetable oil in sauce pan. Add curry paste and fry for about a minute.
2. Place peanut butter, peanuts, sugar, lemon juice and gata in the sauce pan also. Once the mixture boils, lower heat to simmer for about 5 minutes. When the sauce thickens, remove from heat and set aside.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients thoroughly(excluding the flour, peanut oil, and sprigs of cilantro).
4. Shape meat mixture into small balls then dust with flour.
5. Heat the peanut oil in a pan and deep fry meatballs. Drain cooked meatballs on paper towels. Serve with peanut sauce and sprigs of cilantro.
Here is my dinner!
It was nice afternoon yesterday. The sun was out and I was done with all my chores. I bought a pint of heavy cream last Tuesday with plans of making scones during the weekend. Since the weekend was here, time to whip up a batch of scones!
Cream Scones (Joy of Cooking 2006 ed)
1 3/4 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup cranberry raisins
1. Preheat oven to 450degF. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Combine well.
2. Make a small well in the middle of the dry mixture and pour in the heavy cream. Add cranberry raisins as well. Mix in as few strokes as possible.
3. Handling the dough as little as possible, make some balls onto a baking sheet. Flatten using the palm of your hand or the bottom of a wide bottle.
4. Place sheet in the oven for about 15 minutes or until edges are a bit golden.
Here is my breakfast.
Here is a closeup of the scones.
I hope that made you hungry and itching to make some yourself.
