Tuesday Tips - Buttermilk

I don't know anyone that regularly keeps buttermilk in their fridge. I often will decide to bake and realize that buttermilk is the one ingredient I am missing....frustrating. There is a quick cheater method to making buttermilk that will get you by:

1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice + 1 cup of milk

Let the milk curdle for about 10 minutes and use as your recipe specifies.

I still do buy buttermilk if I know in advance what I am going to be making. It may all be in my imagination but I feel like the recipe turns out better with actual buttermilk.

I made the above muffins for Gabby's 2nd birthday. I remembered the buttermilk. I'll post this recipe and details of the party later in the week.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! We're celebrating the birth of our nation with the traditional small town parade, a BBQ, fireworks and this Jell-O recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker blog.

First make the Jell-O. I chose to do two colors but you can do four! Simply add 1 c. of boiling water to each 3 oz. box. Refrigerate until solid.

Next, make your gelatin bloom.

Mix in the condensed milk.

Take the colored Jell-Os and cut into squares. Toss into a 9x13 pan and mix.

 

Pour the condensed milk mixture on top and level out. Refrigerate until solid. Take a cookie cutter to cut out shapes and enjoy!

Stained Glass Jello
 

Ingredients:

4 boxes (3-ounces each) Jello (or store brand gelatin dessert) in different colors
14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (Knox)
Water

Directions:

For each flavor, dissolve one box of Jello in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour into a square container that is about 6 to 8″ square and chill at least 3 hours, or overnight. (Try to use the same size for all four so that the blocks will come out the same. In this case the smaller the better – I used 8″ pans and felt my “blocks” were a little too flat.)

After chilling the flavors, cut them into small blocks.

Carefully mix the blocks in a 9×13-inch pan.

In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin into ½ cup cold water. After the gelatin blooms, add 1½ cups boiling water and dissolve. Add the can of condensed milk. Stir and let cool. Pour cooled milk mixture over Jello blocks in 9×13 pan. Skim off any small bubbles that are created when you pour the condensed milk on the Jello pieces. Chill overnight or at least 3 hours until firm.

Cut into blocks or shapes and serve.

Tuesday Tips - Dish Detergent

Have you ever tried to run a load of dishes in your dishwasher only to find that you ran out of dish detergent? That happened to me this weekend. Luckily there is a homemade fix:

Put 3-4 drops of Dawn dish soap into your dishwasher. Don't do more than 3-4 drops as you might end up with a sudsy mess!

On top of that fill the detergent holder with baking soda and run as you normally would. Your dishes will come out sparkly and clean. I'm not sure I would do this on a regular basis but in a pinch it works great!

A You're Adorable

Our 4-year old son Nate performed in his first dance recital Thursday night. He performed again last night and has caught the performing bug. He absolutely loved it! Here's a video of his first performance on stage. I apologize for the bouncing. It was hard for me to record it and watch at the same time. Plus I was sweating like crazy as I was so nervous for him!

If you have trouble viewing the video, here is a link to YouTube .

Zinfandel-Braised Beef Short Ribs

The first part of this week was rainy and cold. I always want hearty foods when that happens. I figured this would be my last chance for a good old stew or something similar before the Summer heat arrives. I'm attempting to slowly cook my way through our freezer as it is way too jam packed of who knows what. In my search for a good stewing meat I came across a package of bone-in beef short ribs, perfect!

I had a recipe from Bon Appetit that I've been wanting to try and I had nearly everything on hand. These were surprisingly easy to make, moist and very flavorful. The meat literally fell off of the bone so I removed the bones when serving. Also I didn't have parsnip on hand so used carrots, a delicious substitution. One more caveat, I didn't have Zinfandel but had 3 bottles of random red wines open. I simply added a little of each to equal a full bottle of wine. Perhaps someone with a really sophisticated palate could tell I mixed and matched wines but to me it tasted great!

 

Zinfandel-Braised Beef Short Ribs

 

Ingredients:

 

3 T butter, room temperature,  divided

8 3-4" long meaty beef short ribs (about 4 pounds)

Coarse kosher salt

2 1/2 c. red onions, chopped

2 c. parsnip, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

6 garlic cloves, chopped

2 T. fresh rosemary, chopped

1 bottle Zinfandel, 750-ml

2 c. low-salt beef broth

1T. flour

Directions:
 

Preheat oven to 325°F. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle ribs with coarse salt and pepper. Add to pot in single layer and sauté until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer ribs to large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pot along with onions; sauté until brown, about 6 minutes. Add parsnips; sauté until beginning to color, about 6 minutes. Mix in garlic, then rosemary. Add wine and broth; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits.

 

Return ribs and any accumulated juices to pot, arranging in single layer. Bring to simmer; cover and place in oven. Braise until ribs are very tender, about 2 1/2 hours.

 

Using tongs, transfer ribs to clean bowl. Spoon fat from pan juices. Boil juices until just beginning to thicken, about 10 minutes. Mix 1 tablespoon butter and flour in small bowl to smooth paste. Whisk into juices in pot; simmer until thickened enough to coat spoon, about 5 minutes longer. Season gravy with coarse salt and pepper. Return ribs to pot; spoon gravy over. Serve on top of mashed potatoes.

 

Do Ahead: Can be made 2 days ahead. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Rewarm over low heat before serving.

Snickers Bars

 

I made these awesome "Snickers" bars for Jim for Father's Day. He loves Snickers and especially loves them frozen so I knew that this dessert would be a hit. It took a lot of work but didn't disappoint. It doesn't have caramel like the actual candy bar and I thought about adding some but I think the caramel would freeze into a jaw breaking layer which is why it was left out of the recipe in the first place. The recipe comes from Breanne Varela of Tavern in LA and was in Bon Appetit Magazine a couple of years ago.

 

Note, I made this recipe over 3 days which eased the work load: Day 1 the base; day 2 the nougat and Bavarian cream; and day 3 the chocolate coating.

 

"Snickers" Bars

 

Ingredients:

 

Base

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

3 1/2 oz. high-quality milk chocolate, chopped

1 c. creamy peanut butter (not natural style)

3/4 c. puffed rice cereal

 

Peanut Nougat

1 large egg white, room temperature

1/8 t. plus 3/4 c. sugar

3 T. honey

1 T. light corn syrup

1/2 c. toasted salted peanuts, chopped

1/2 t. kosher salt

 

Milk Chocolate Bavarian Cream

4 T.  whole milk, divided

1 1/2 t. unflavored gelatin

1 c. chilled heavy cream, divided

3 large egg yolks

1 1/2 T. sugar

9 oz. high-quality milk chocolate, melted

Chocolate Coating

9 oz. high-quality bittersweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped

2 1/2 T. unsalted butter

 

Directions:

Base  Coat an 8x8x2" metal baking pan with nonstick spray; line with plastic, pressing to smooth out any wrinkles. Place chocolate in a medium metal bowl; set over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in peanut butter, the cereal. Press over bottom of prepared pan in an even layer. Cover; chill for 1 hour.

Peanut Nougat  Line a baking sheet with parchment; coat with nonstick spray. Place egg white in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until frothy. Add 1/8 teaspoon sugar; beat until peaks begin to form. Bring honey to a boil in a small saucepan. With mixer running, gradually add honey to egg white. Set aside.

Stir 3/4 cup sugar, corn syrup, and 3 tablespoons water in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Attach a candy thermometer to side of pan. Increase heat; boil until mixture reaches 275 degrees, 5-7 minutes.

Return mixer with egg white to medium speed. Gradually add syrup to egg white, allowing it to drip down sides of bowl. Beat until glossy and stiff, about 5 minutes. Fold in peanuts and salt. Spread nougat over prepared sheet into an 8: square (about 1/4" thick). Let cool for 1 hour.

Invert nougat over base in pan; peel off parchment. Spread over base in even layer.

Milk Chocolate Bavarian Cream  Place 2 tablespoons milk in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over; let stand to soften, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring remaining 2 tablespoons milk and 1/4 cup cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Whisk yolks and sugar in a medium bowl; gradually whisk in hot cream mixture. Return to same pan. Stir over medium-low heat until thickened and a thermometer registers 175 degrees, about 3 minutes. Add gelatin; whisk until dissolved.

Place melted chocolate in another medium bowl. Pour cream mixture through a strainer into chocolate; whisk until smooth.

Beat remaining 3/4 cup chilled cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture in 2 additions, folding just to blend between additions. Pour Bavarian cream over nougat, spreading in an even layer. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours.

Chocolate Coating  Place chocolate and butter in a bowl set oer a medium saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Invert 8: pan onto a work surface; remove pan and peel off plastic. Turn over. Cute into 6 slices, then halve each slice crosswise. Transfer pieces to prepared baking sheet, base side down. Using an offset spatula, spread chocolate over tops and sides of bars. Freeze to set, 30 minutes.

Do Ahead: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover with foil; freeze.

Note: I found the bars pretty rich and impossible to eat one whole bar. I halved the bars and made "minis" which were perfect.
 

Tuesday Tips - Pan Storage

We made a life changing organizational move that I had to share. Our house is older so doesn't have much storage space. One of my biggest pet peeves was the way we stored our pans: piled on top of each other. It worked out alright if you wanted the smallest one on the top but if you needed the largest on the bottom you had to haul the huge pile to reach it. It was frustrating and heavy.

While at the Container Store (aka organizational heaven) I came across a cooking lid organizer. I was thinking of purchasing it for that purpose when I read the box and it showed an alternate use as a pan organizer. Our cupboards are abnormally narrow and short so we simply screwed the metal base to the wall of the cupboard. This is one of the most simple changes but has been seriously life changing. No more grunting and groaning or dropping heavy pans on my feet. I love it!

PS I've been cooking up a storm. Recipes I hope to get up later this week include: homemade Snickers bars, Blueberry Lemon Jam, and Zinfandel-braised short ribs.