Split Pea Soup

November 9, 2014 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Split pea soup is something you either really like or you want no part of. It’s a soup I really like. I usually make mine with pork hocks but have made it with a ham bone. I remember my mother making pea soup and it remains one of my dad’s favorites. I’ve ordered pea soup in restaurants and been disappointed…either the soup is so thick you can eat it with a fork or watered down and tasteless. I also like mine with croutons or a slice of good bread. I’ve never been a soup and crackers person and especially am not a crackers in my soup person. Split pea soup. It’s what was for dinner tonight.

Ingredients

Pork hock or ham bone

8 cups water

16 oz package split green peas (sorted and rinsed well)

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

1 large onion diced

3-4 carrots peeled and diced

2-3 stalks of celery diced

1/2 sweet red pepper diced

4-5 small gold potatoes diced

3 cups diced tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

In a large heavy kettle put your pork hock (or ham bone) and water over high heat and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil turn heat down to low and simmer for about 2 hours. Add the split peas and minced garlic and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the hock to a platter and add all of the diced vegetables.

I had orange, purple and yellow carrots so I used one of each. But ordinary orange carrots would be fine.

Remove the meat from the bone. My organic farm has awesome, meaty pork hocks.

Stir the meat and the tomatoes into the soup and continue to simmer for 30 minutes until all of the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I made some croutons for our soup with some day or two old sour dough bread that I had. I lightly buttered a few slices, sprinkled on a little garlic salt, and grated a little Parmesan cheese on top.

Cube and spread out on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the croutons in the oven another 15-20 minutes.

Ladle some soup into a bowl and enjoy.

This soup is like many soups that taste better the second day. This soup will also thicken up. If it becomes too thick thin it out with a little chicken or vegetable broth.

Macadamia and White Chocolate Cookies

November 5, 2014November 5, 2014 / featherheadlady / 3 Comments

Yesterday, while doing my every Tuesday grocery shopping with my friend Jane, we discovered macadamia nuts in the baking aisle. I never see macadamia nuts at my grocery! This is something new in our fairly rural Michigan grocery… I’m thinking…I must make some cookies. So we both bought a couple bags. I used the cookie recipe that was on the package. I’m sure I will find another creative use for the second bag of nuts or I may make another batch of cookies another time. Who knows. They are very good. A nice texture; a little crispy on the edges and soft in the center. It’s what’s for dessert tonight.

Cookie Ingredients

1 cup butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups white chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli)

6 oz (1 1/2 cups) macadamia nuts chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

In mixing bowl cream together butter and white and brown sugar until fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.

In a smaller bowl whisk together dry ingredients.

With a wooden spoon blend in dry ingredients. Stir in white chocolate and nuts.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. I always use a cookie scoop for uniform baking and uniform cookies.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

I thought I had white chocolate chips but I did not. I did, however, have large white Ghirardelli pieces so I chopped those into smaller pieces and substituted them for the chips. They worked fine. My mother used to say “necessity is the mother of invention.” She and Plato both said that. I think Plato said it first.

May you all find something new in your grocery and bring it home to whip up something you’ve never prepared before.

Shepherds Pie (aka White Trash Supper)

November 4, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

This is is a dish I’ve been making for years and we always called it “White Trash Supper”. Everyone loves the two major components in this dish…mashed potatoes and ground beef (or lamb or pork or a combination of ground meats). I take back saying everyone loves mashed potatoes. I happen to know several people who don’t like potatoes at all and one who just does not like mashed potatoes. So this would suit 95% of the people I might cook for. This is traditional British pub food. Not spicy. Not fancy. Just a very simple comforting dish. Kids like it. Grown ups like it. Picky eaters like it. In this recipe I’ve added a few more vegetables (which picky eaters might want to cross off the ingredients list). This is another recipe that works well with whatever you have on hand in the fridge. There are two components… the potato and the beef.

Potato

2 pounds of potatoes peeled, diced and rinsed

2 cloves garlic (optional)

1/3 cup half and half

4 T butter

1 egg yolk

salt and pepper to taste

Put the potatoes and garlic in a sauce pan with water, cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and simmer over medium low heat until the potatoes are tender for mashing. In the meantime start working on the base.

Meat

2 T olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 leeks sliced thin, white and pale green part only

2 cloves garlic

2 carrots peeled and small diced

1 cup mushrooms chopped

1 pound ground meat (beef, lamb, or pork)

2 T tomato paste

2 T flour

1 cup beef, chicken or mushroom broth

+ 1/2 cup of the water the potatoes were cooked in

1 T Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen corn

Prep all of your vegetables.

In a large heavy skillet heat the oil. Sauté the onion, leeks and carrots over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes.

Add the ground meat and cook until no longer pink.

Add the herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture and stir until incorporated. Add the tomato paste, the broth and the potato water and simmer stirring frequently until mixture thickens. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the peas and corn. Remove from heat.

Put the meat mixture into an 8×11″ casserole dish or evenly distribute into 4 individual serving casserolettes. I used the single serving oven proof dishes.

Your potatoes should be done. Drain off the remaining water and put in a bowl for mashing. In the potato pot, over low heat, melt the butter and warm the half n half.

Add warmed butter and half n half, the egg yolk and salt and pepper to taste to the potatoes and mash. I used my hand mixer and whipped the potatoes. I rarely whip potatoes because my daughter has always preferred them smashed by hand. But she isn’t here for dinner. If she were I’d be using my masher. Once you’ve mashed or whipped your potatoes you have the top layer for your pie. Spread it out to the edges of the dish like you’d do if you were icing a cake. I sprinkled the top with a little paprika.

Bake on a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment paper in case of bubbling over messing up your oven incidents. Bake for 25 minutes until potatoes are golden.

Enjoy this simple, hearty dish with a little salad and bread and butter. I enjoyed an adult beverage with mine and pretended I was in a British pub.

I sometimes kick up the mashed potatoes a bit with some prepared horseradish but I didn’t have any today. You can also add a little cheese. If your family dislikes peas or corn you can substitute other vegetables. Also, I made a cup of broth from Mushroom Better than Bouillon but you could use chicken or beef broth.

Middle Eastern Vegetable Salad

November 3, 2014 / featherheadlady / 3 Comments

This is a favorite salad recipe that a good friend shared with me. It has so many flavors that I love…basil, mint, lemon, garlic. How can anything with those components not be good!! I have increased the “greens” in her recipe but other than that it remains as shared.

Salad Ingredients

10 scallions, white and light green parts thinly sliced

1 cup ripe cherry or grape tomatoes halved

1 cucumber seeded and diced

1 16-oz can of chickpeas rinsed and drained

1 cup fresh parsley

1 cup fresh mint

1 cup fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

5-6 cloves of garlic minced

kosher salt and black pepper to taste

8 oz feta cheese in 1/2 inch dice

Wash all the herbs well. I like to use my salad spinner.

Remove all of the stems. I use a few pulses of my food processor to chop the herbs.

Diced the the cucumbers and halve the tomatoes. I used small salad cucumbers so I diced three of them.

Rinse and drain the chickpeas.

I had no green onions on hand so I diced some red onion. Either works well in this salad.

Combine all the minced herbs, vegetables and chickpeas in a large bowl. Mince the garlic, squeeze the lemons for 1/2 cup of juice, and measure out a half cup of olive oil. Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil and garlic together and pour over the salad. Gently toss to coat the vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Dice the feta cheese and toss in the salad.

This salad is perfect served with warm pita bread or on lettuce leaves. Or just sit down with a fork and a bowl and enjoy. I served it tonight as a side with sweet potatoes and smoked pork chops. It’s what was for dinner tonight.

Baguette

October 31, 2014October 31, 2014 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Today was a perfect bread baking day. We had the first snow flurries of the season. And it isn’t even November. As soon as the bread came out of the oven we had to slice into it, smear on a little butter and munch away. I got the heel of the bread, my favorite. Known in Finnish as the “kantapää.” My grandfather had to have bread with every meal and in between meals. I remember my grandparents slathering very generous amounts of butter on their bread and then sprinkling it with salt. That was probably in the days before salted butter but even so. Must be where I acquired my love of salt. The baguette is French, not the bread of my childhood, but very simple and very good. There are only four ingredients. The most time consuming thing is letting the dough rise multiple times. Here we go.

2 1/2 tsp dry yeast

1 2/3 cups water (Divided)

3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

Sprinkle yeast into 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water. Let it sit for about 5 minutes and stir to dissolve. Whisk together the flour and salt in a larger bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the dissolved yeast. Use a wooden spoon and draw enough flour into the yeast/water to form a paste. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it froth for 20 minutes.

I have favorite cotton “bread” towels that I always use.

After the twenty minutes have passed mix in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon and add the remaining water, one tablespoon at a time, just until you have a nice soft, sticky dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Try to avoid adding extra flour as you knead.

Put your nicely kneaded ball of dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it with your bread towel and let it rise in a warm place free of drafts for about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down, re-cover and let rise 45 more minutes.

Punch down, re-cover and let it rise about 45 more minutes until double in size. That’ll be the third rising.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and shape. Each should be about 12 inches long. Place them on a lightly floured baking sheet, re-cover and let them rise until doubled in size, about 50 minutes. Preheat oven to 475.

Cut several diagonal slashes in each loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and hollow sounding when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Slice and enjoy.

You can have your bread and eat it too.

A few posts back I roasted tomatoes and used them to make pasta sauce. Those same tomatoes with a little olive oil would be delicious on this bread. Or just dip a slice into some olive oil seasoned with fresh ground pepper and a little grated Parmesan. That will be especially good if you’re lucky enough to get the “kantapää.”

Potato and Corn Chowder with Ham

October 31, 2014 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Soups are a favorite of mine to make and to eat especially as the weather starts getting cold. I had ham left over from last night and not a lot of time so this was a perfect soup to make. One of my favorite soups since childhood contained many of the same ingredients as my potato chowder but instead of ham it had fish. We called it “kala mojakka” (Finnish for fish soup). Sometimes the only parts of the fish the soup contained were the heads but they gave the best flavor to the broth. This from the days when nothing edible went to waste. To me, any soup was “mojakka”. My grandmother made it best.

Potato and Corn Chowder with Ham. It’s what was for dinner tonight.

2 stalks of celery

2 leeks (white and pale green portion only)

1/2 sweet red or orange bell pepper

1/2 large sweet onion

3-4 cloves of garlic

4 T butter

2 T flour

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups diced potatoes (redskins or Yukon)

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup diced ham

1 cup half and half

Rough chop onion, celery, pepper and leeks.

Dice the potatoes and rinse well. (I prefer not to peel the potatoes.)

In a Dutch oven or heavy kettle melt the butter and sauté the vegetables (onions, celery, pepper and leeks) over medium heat until they are tender, 5 minutes or so.

Thin slice the garlic and add to the sautéing vegetables.

After adding the garlic sauté another minute. Add in the flour and stir until incorporated with the vegetables. Stir in the broth, the diced potatoes, the cayenne pepper and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Add corn, diced ham and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in one cup of half and half.

Continue to simmer until thoroughly heated.

Ladle into bowls. Garnish with a little shredded sharp cheddar cheese and some fresh parsley.

Enjoy! I told you it was easy and not very time consuming at all. Once again this is a recipe that can be modified based on personal preference or just based on what you have on hand. The soup is excellent with no meat or you can substitute sausage. Cook the sausage ahead of time and put on paper towel to “degrease.” Add the sausage near the end of the recipe in place of the ham.

I like to serve this soup with homemade croutons but I had no bread. Crackers had to do tonight. I have two bowls of leftover soup. It’s what will be for lunch tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I can make some good bread to go with it. Maybe.

Scalloped Potatoes with Cheese

October 30, 2014 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Scalloped potatoes are one of my favorite comfort foods. They are one of my dad’s favorites too but he likes his “cheeseless,” probably because that’s the way my mother made them. If I made a ham a day or two earlier I would have cubed the ham and mixed it in with the potatoes but I’m cooking both the ham and the scalloped potatoes today. So they are served side by side. Scalloped potatoes and ham. It’s what’s for dinner tonight.

There are dozens and dozens of different ways to prepare scalloped potatoes. I’ve made them several different ways myself. But I like them with a lot of onions and a little cheese. Not so much cheese you’d mistake them for au gratin potatoes but just enough cheese to make them a little richer and creamier. You can make any modifications based on your personal tastes.

When I was in high school I took Home Economics. I took Home Economics because I was a girl. It was the class where I learned to outline textbooks. I believe outlining to be a skill with no real life purpose that I’m aware of. However, all of us learned to make a white sauce. Now that is a skill with a real life purpose. It’s enabled me to make great Mac and cheese, pasta sauces, gravies, and, of course, scalloped potatoes. Mrs. Little, my Home Ec teacher, would be proud of me for remembering the white sauce.

Scalloped Potatoes with Cheese

2 pounds small potatoes

1 large sweet onion sliced thin

9 T butter divided

6 T flour

4 cups milk

1 cup grated cheese (I used 1/2 cup smoked Gouda, 1/2 cup gruyere)

1 tsp dry mustard

5-6 fresh sage leaves (optional)

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Preheat your oven to 400.

Scrub your potatoes and slice them thin. I use a mandolin so the potato slices are uniform thickness. I also prefer not to peel them. Rinse the potatoes thoroughly after slicing and drain well.

Thin slice the onion. For some reason I have trouble slicing onions on a mandolin so I just use a sharp knife.

Melt 6 T of the butter in a heavy deep skillet. Whisk in the flour and a couple of the sage leaves that have been thin sliced. Whisk for a minute or two.

Slowly add the 4 cups of milk continuing to whisk. Whisk in the ground mustard and continue to whisk until the sauce begins to thicken.

Use 1 T of the butter and grease a large casserole dish. Layer half the potatoes first, half the onions, sprinkle one half cup of the cheeses and half the sauce. Repeat.

Melt the last 2 T of butter in a skillet. Pulse your fresh bread crumbs with a few fresh sage leaves and fresh thyme. Toast on top of the stove tossing until lightly toasted. Sprinkle on top of the potatoes.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender and the top is golden brown.

Allow the potatoes to sit for about 5 minutes are taking them from the oven. I served mine with sliced ham, steamed broccoli and some spiced apple slices.

Use whatever cheeses are your favorites. If you prefer, omit the sage and thyme. Perhaps try some basil and/or parsley. Or go herb-less. Enjoy. It’s not fancy but you will find it comforting food.

Angel Hair Pasta with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

October 27, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

This weekend we had very special friends visit from out of town. Pasta dishes are always favorites with them so I decided to make pasta two ways. Two ways that were both new recipe interpretations for me which is only a safe thing to do if your guests love you unconditionally. One pasta was a red dish, the other was white. One was meatless, the other had sausage. Both of them turned out very well. I’m going to share the meatless red here. Angel hair pasta with oven roasted tomatoes…it’s what was for dinner and again for lunch the next day.

This recipe is only something you’ll want to try if you will be home all afternoon and if you love the smell of roasting garlic and tomato. Everyone who walked in that afternoon commented on the strong aroma of garlic. You could roast the tomatoes without the garlic but the flavor would not be the same. The first part of this dish is the time consuming part…not a lot of work, just time.

Get ready to roast your tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 350 with the racks in the top third of the oven. I combined different kinds of tomatoes…Romas, beefsteak, and small heirloom tomatoes.

Slice the romas and the beefsteaks. Leave the cherry/grape tomatoes whole. Put the tomatoes in a large bowl, add 1/2 cup of olive oil and toss the tomatoes to coat. Spread them out in a single layer on jelly roll pans. Peel and smash a dozen or so cloves of garlic and distribute between the two pans of tomatoes. Lightly salt. Turn the oven down to 225 and put the tomatoes in. Roast them for six hours switching the position of the pans after three hours.

I told you this process was not at all difficult. It won’t take long and the garlic aromas will begin to permeate the kitchen. These tomatoes are so yummy. You won’t ever want to buy sundried, jarred tomatoes again. Throw the garlic away. It will be tough. The flavors have married the tomatoes and olive oil.

Now for the pasta sauce.

3 cups of oven roasted tomatoes (rough chop slices)

2-3 cloves of garlic thin sliced

5-6 anchovy filets

2 T olive oil

1 tsp crushed red pepper

2 T tomato paste

1 pint jar diced tomatoes

20 or so kalamata olives coarsely chopped

10 or so large green olives coarsely chopped

3 T capers

fresh grated asiago cheese

Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot and cook pasta according to package instructions.

Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Briefly sauté the garlic slices. Add the anchovy filets and sauté until they melt into the oil. Add the pepper flakes and tomato paste. Add the chopped tomatoes, the olives and capers, and the oven roasted tomatoes. Simmer until thoroughly heated.

Combine the sauce and pasta and toss. Add a half cup or so of the pasta water if necessary. Top with fresh grated asiago cheese. Serve with a tossed salad and some crusty bread.

If you have more than three cups of oven roasted tomatoes there are any number of uses for them in addition to just eating them straight up. They would be great in an omelet, on a sandwich, in a salad. I used the tomatoes I had left tonight when I roasted a pork loin with Brussels sprouts and baby Yukon gold potatoes. I added them to the vegetables when the cook time was almost up.

Oxtail Soup

October 20, 2014December 5, 2014 / featherheadlady / 3 Comments

It’s soup weather! Soup is one of the ultimate comfort foods. It’s what you’re supposed to eat when you’re not feeling well. It makes your house smell good. It’s something you can add the leftovers from your refrigerator to. Soup recipes are fun to modify to suit your personal tastes. Add this vegetable. Don’t add this one. I had some nice looking oxtails from my favorite organic farm and decided they were the perfect beginning for a pot of soup. It’s what was for dinner last night. And it’s probably what’s for dinner tomorrow night.

Oxtails – about 2 pounds

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup flour

salt and pepper

2 T tomato paste

1 large onion rough diced

2 stalks celery rough diced

5-6 garlic cloves

1 quart diced tomatoes

4 cups beef or mushroom broth

2 bay leaves

1 tsp thyme

2 carrots thin sliced

1 cup diced potatoes

1 medium rutabaga peeled and diced

1 cup fresh green beans cut in 1 inch pieces

Heat olive oil in a heavy kettle. Add flour and salt and pepper and oxtails to a zip lock bag and shake to coat. Brown meat on all sides, remove and set aside.

Add onion, garlic, and celery to the kettle and cook for 3-5 minutes over medium heat. Stir in tomato paste.

Add tomatoes, broth, bay leaves, thyme and fresh ground pepper and salt. Return the oxtails to the pan. Simmer for 3-3 1/2 hours. Remove oxtails and add carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, and beans. Additional celery and onion if you’d like.

Remove the meat from the bones and add that back into the soup. Oxtails are not very meaty but they provide a great flavor to the soup. Simmer for approximately 1 hour until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve up with some crusty bread and you have a perfect hearty dinner. I didn’t have any good bread so I made baking powder biscuits but crusty bread or rolls would have been better.

You can add other root vegetables to this soup like turnips or parsnips. If you add fresh or frozen peas add them toward the end of the cooking process.

TIP: So many recipes call for 1 or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. I open cans of tomato paste, put them in the freezer for about an hour, open the other end and push the tomato paste out. I slice the paste and put each section into a zip lock snack bag. I always have tomato paste handy.

Crockpot Candy

October 19, 2014October 19, 2014 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I very often see recipes that people copy and post to their Facebook page with a comment like “looks great” or “I want to make this.” Because people have seldom actually tried the recipes I’m always a little skeptical thinking something might have gotten lost in translation. Over the years I’ve actually known people who give you a recipe and intentionally leave out an ingredient. When you try to replicate a dish you loved that someone else made, the missing ingredient assures that it will never turn out as good as theirs.

The Crockpot Candy was one of the rare, untested by anyone I know, Facebook post I decided to try. I don’t eat chocolate but I make a lot of chocolate candy and desserts because chocolate is one of my husband’s favorite things. The recipe is definitely simple and the first time I made it it was a huge hit. This is my second batch and I decided to make this batch in mini-cupcake papers rather than putting spoonfuls on wax paper. The recipe made about 50 candies.

Get your crockpot out and in about 3 hours you’ll have some beautiful and delicious chocolate treats.

1 16-oz can of lightly salted peanuts

1 16-oz can of lightly salted mixed nuts

1 12-oz bag of dark chocolate chips

1 12-oz bag of milk chocolate chips

2 11-oz bags of butterscotch chips

2 12-oz bags of white chocolate wafers

Layer the ingredients in your crockpot in the order listed above.

Cover your crockpot, turn it on low and set a timer for 2 hours. After 2 hours stir all the ingredients well, put the cover back on and set your timer for another 30 minutes.

Turn off the crockpot. Using two spoons fill mini-cupcake papers or put chocolate on wax paper and allow the chocolate to harden. If you put a tray at a time in your freezer for 5 minutes or so it makes the candy set up faster and it’s easier to handle.

Amazingly easy.

I always use good chocolate in my recipes. In this case all of the chocolate is Ghiradelli. If you prefer you can substitute peanut butter chips for the butterscotch chips. The original recipe I saw used peanut butter chips but my husband doesn’t like peanut butter mixed with his chocolate so I improvised. I also added some coconut to half of the chocolates this time around. I stirred in about a cup of coconut to the already melted/stirred chocolate. You could also add raisins or dried cherries to the melted chocolate.

I have not tried halving this recipe. Chocolate can be temperamental when melting so I’m not sure how well it would work.

Find yourself some pretty little boxes, fill them with the chocolates and these would make much appreciated gifts for the holidays, for hostess gifts, or as a thank you.