Potato Gratin

Potato Gratin (From Every Day Food, Martha Stewart)

1 clove garlic, smashed
butter, room temperature, for baking dish
about 6 medium sized Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced very thin**
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
salt and fresh ground pepper
ground nutmeg

**Potatoes are slices easily using a mandoline, the slicing blade on a food processor, the slicing side of a box grater..or some good ol' patience and some good knife skills!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Rub an 8"x8" baking dish with garlic and then the butter, layer potatoes in dish, overlapping slightly.

In a medium saucepan, combine cream 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg; bring to a simmer. Pour enough of the cream mixture into the dish just enough to cover the potatoes. Cover the dish with foil.

Bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove the foil and continue to bake for another 35-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and bubbly.

Let rest 15 minutes before serving and enjoy!

Lemon Bundt Cake

I picked up my first Bundt pan this weekend really wanting to try this recipe. Lemon desserts make me think of spring and I know spring is on the way here in MN so I'm hoping and praying it comes sooner rather than later. Thinking back, Bundt cakes used to be a bit more popular than they are today I imagine. This isn't the Bundt cake with the pudding in the center, this isn't your grandmothers cake. This Lemon Bundt comes from America's Test Kitchen, which is one of the most watched cooking shows on Public TV. These fine folks work with a recipe until it can be replicated with the same consistent results in different environments every time. If these nice people dole out a recipe, pay attention, it's the very best there is.

The Bundt pan is a Minnesota native of Nordic Ware. What started as a family owned, home grown operation in their own kitchen, now boasts a huge empire of over 60 million Bundt pans in Kitchens across the United States. Here is their pdf tip sheet on how to bake a perfect Bundt!

Lemon Bundt Cake (from America’s Test Kitchens as seen on Kelsey’s Apple a Day Blog)

Cake:

3 Lemons, zested and juiced for at least three Tbsp. lemon juice
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup lowfat buttermilk
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature
18 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature (2 ¼ sticks)
2 cups granulated sugar

Glaze:

2-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp buttermilk
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray with flour (alternatively, brush pan with mixture of 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon melted butter). Mince lemon zest to fine paste (you should have about 2 tablespoons). Combine zest and lemon juice in small bowl; set aside to soften, 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Combine lemon juice mixture, vanilla, and buttermilk in medium bowl. In small bowl, gently whisk eggs and yolk to combine. In standing mixer fitted with flat paddle mixer attachment, cream butter and sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes; scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce to medium speed and add half of eggs, mixing until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Repeat with remaining eggs; scrape down bowl again. Reduce to low speed; add about one-third of flour mixture, followed by half of buttermilk mixture, mixing until just incorporated after each addition (about 5 seconds). Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture. Scrape bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Scrape into prepared pan.

Bake until top is golden brown and wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into center comes out with no crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes.

FOR THE GLAZE: While cake is baking, whisk 2 tablespoons lemon juice, buttermilk, and confectioners' sugar until smooth, adding more lemon juice gradually as needed until glaze is thick but still pourable (mixture should leave faint trail across bottom of mixing bowl when drizzled from whisk). Cool cake in pan on wire rack set over baking sheet for 10 minutes, then invert cake directly onto rack. Pour half of glaze over warm cake and let cool for 1 hour; pour remaining glaze evenly over top of cake and continue to cool to room temperature, at least 2 hours.

Oven Fried Chicken

Lately these days I have not been terribly motivated in the kitchen to try anything new, and exciting. We did however try this oven fried chicken the other day to try and go a little healthier (gasp right :)

Nonetheless, I think everyone should have in their arsenal a few good basic recipes that you can produce from a number of things that are more than likely hanging around the cupboards and refrigerators-this would be one to add to that list.

Oven Fried Chicken (from Food Network, Paula Deen)

2 cups Panko bread crumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 Tbsp dried or fresh Thyme leaves
Kosher Salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp water
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4" thickness

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and place a cooling/baking rack over the foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

In a shallow dish combine bread crumbs, cheese, 2 Tbsp olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. In a separate shallow dish combine water, dijon mustard, salt and pepper, and remaining olive oil.

Coat each chicken breast with the mustard mixture, and then generously dredge the chicken in the bread crumb mixture. We really liked the crust so we tried to get a really good crust going on! Place each chicken breast on the prepared baking rack.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the coating is golden brown and a thermometer measures 165 degrees. Serve immediately.

Soft White Sandwich Bread

After the new year a goal of mine was to make more bread from scratch around our house, and to rely less on premade store bought packages. I ordered Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread Every Day. It's a lovely book and such wonderful things had been mentioned about this individual that I thought this would be a great place to start. Up until recently I, by my own admittance, have been fearful of yeast. It's such a fussy product when you first begin to work with it. Especially given that there are different kinds of yeast also, as in bread machine yeast can also be known as Instant Yeast. There are different kinds known as Rapid Rise, Active Dry Rapid Rise, this brand and that brand and not to mention the different kind of flours-Yikes. Each flour has something unique about them and gratefully each kind of bread is named for what it's better for e.g. cake flour, bread flour, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour etc.

So in my journey in bread making there have been a number of failures as well as successes, as in any baker might concede to. I thought I was following everything in this recipe to a 'T.' I used exactly enough this, and kneaded it for exactly this many minutes and-Argh! Something would go wrong, often times my end result would look similar to banana bread in shape and density, not a soft sandwich-y white bread!

I learned from a friend of mine that when you add yeast to a liquid (warmed to 110 degrees of course) you have to really whisk it to get that yeast going. Before I was merely giving a quick stir with a spoon. Once I discovered that, all systems were a go! I also knew from other readings that sugar is the fuel and food for yeast to become active, and I really wanted this to work. I wasn't reliant solely on the sugars in the milk, so I added a quarter teaspoon of granulated sugar to the milk before adding the yeast. Maybe it's not necessary, but none-the-less, it worked.

Lesson learned with the most applicable quote: "The Definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein

White Sandwich Bread (Artisans Bread Every Day, page 105)

1 Tbsp Instant yeast (aka Bread Machine Yeast)

1 3/4 cups, plus 2 Tbsp milk (any kind) warmed to 110 degrees F.

6 1/4 cup unbleached bread flour

2 tsp salt

5 1/2 Tbsp white or 1/4 cup honey or agave nectar

6 Tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter

1 egg

Do Ahead:

Whisk the yeast into the warmed milk (110 deg F) until dissolved and set aside for about five minutes or until foamy.

Combine the flour, salt, sugar, oil and egg in a mixing bowl (I used the bowl from my stand mixer.) Then slowly add in the milk and yeast mixture. If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on lowest speed for 2 minutes. If mixing by hand, use a large spoon and mix for two minutes. The dough should be coarse and sticky.

If using a mixer, break out that dough hook that's been stashed away, attach that to the mixer and mix on medium low speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or knead by hand on a floured work surface until soft and supple, but and tacky, but not sticky. **Note: Tacky should be defined as the texture that could stick to your hand and easily be removed like a post-it note. Sticky textures are difficult to remove from your hand, tacky is not.

Whichever mixing method you should use, knead by hand for one minute and then tuck the sides under and smooth it into a ball. Place the dough it a clean, lightly oiled large mixing bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight or up to four days. If you plan to bake the dough in batches, over different days, you can portion the dough and place into two or more oiled bowls at this stage.

On Baking Day:

Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 1/2 hours before baking, and divide in half. Shape into sandwich loaves by rolling each half out into roughly a 5"x9" rectangle, and starting with the short side, roll away from you. Once your roll is complete, gently rock your fists on top of the loaf to form a evenly formed rectangular like shape (for further illustrations you'll have to refer to the book p.23)

Place each loaf in a greased 5"x9" loaf pan. Mist the tops of the loaves with cooking spray and wrap with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 2 1/2 hours until it domes about 1" above the rim.

Hint: This works for me since we live in the upper Midwest where it gets pretty chilly in the winter. Use either a microwave safe breakfast size bowl of water or a good sized coffee mug and heat the water in the microwave for about 3 minutes or until boiling. Once that is complete and the microwave is turned off (no flying sparks here) immediately place your two loaf pans in the microwave with the steaming cup or bowl of water and close the door, try not to open it for close two 2 1/2 hours. This is a good warm, draft free way to let your baked goods rise and it also keeps the out of the way!

Before baking preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depends on the oven, then rotate the pans around and bake for another 15-20 minutes until top is golden brown. You are striving for an internal temperature of the bread to be at 185 degrees F and the loaf sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack-Enjoy!

I wish I were a Cinnabon!

Cinnabons have long been a staple for many a malls' fast food court. I, and many others believe this to be pure marketing genius, as well as torture. Who can turn down a big cinnamon-y, perfectly baked Cinnamon roll, certainly not I, but I do most times for obvious reasons. Cinnabon's debuted in malls starting in 1985, from there on out I think their future was sealed.

With this recipe I thought I could make an adaptation. I have been trying to make our own bread at home and one of the methods of doing this is to make everything the night before, refrigerate it overnight to help develop the yeast flavors, and bake it the next day. So I made the rolls the night before, chilled them overnight, and when there were supposed to be rising the next morning before baking, I think the room temperature was too low. It Minnesota, it gets chilly here. If there were kept in a warmer environment I think their second rise would have been more successful. I think that's why they did not big and puffy like the stores version, hence the name wannabe Cinnabons (and because it's a copy-cat recipe!)

Almost Famous Cinnamon Buns (From Food Network Magazine, November 2009)

For the dough

1 cup whole milk

1 packet active dry yeast (3/4 oz)

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

4 Tbsp melted unsalted butter

1 large egg yolk

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more if needed

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

For the Filling

All purpose flour for dusting

12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened. Plus more for the pan

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3+ Tbsp ground Cinnamon

For the Glaze

2 cups of Confectioners Sugar

1/3 cup of heavy cream

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

**or cream cheese frosting from a canister

For the Dough

Warm the milk in the microwave until a thermometer measures the temperature to be 110 degrees F. Once heated, sprinkle in the 1/4 tsp sugar and the yeast packet, and do not stir. Set aside until foamy (about 5 minutes.) Whisk in the melted butter, egg yolk, and vanilla into the yeast mixture.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Fitted with the dough hook attachment and set on a low speed, slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Mix on low until the dough is slightly sticky and thick. Knead the dough on medium low speed for about 6 minutes, until the dough gathers around the hook ( add up to 2 Tbsp of flour only if needed.)

Remove the dough to a working surface and form into a ball. Spray a large bowl with nonstick cooking spray and add the dough to the bowl. Spray the surface of the dough lightly with the nonstick cooking spray and wrap bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about one hour and fifteen minutes.

Roll out the dough into a 12"x14" rectangle on a floured working surface, with the longer side facing you. Spread the softened butter over the dough, leaving a 1/2" border on the far long edge. Mix the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle evenly over the butter. Brush the unbuttered edge with water.

Roll the dough away from you into a tight cylinder, press on the long edge to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut the cylinder into six evenly shaped rolls. Butter a 9"x13" baking pan, place the rolls cut side down in the pan, leaving room between the rolls for rising. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, non-drafty space and allow to rise until doubled, about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake the rolls until golden brown and the house smells like heaven. Meanwhile, make the glaze, whisk the ingredients together. Or, if using, give the premade frosting a good stir to loosen it up.

Once pan has been removed from the oven, drizzle on as much of the icing as your little heart wants-Enjoy!