FoodNuts!

Food..for thought ;-} (Fried in bacon fat, with a bacon vodka crushed bacon bits egg batter..)

I was never a fan of macaroni and cheese, because the boxed stuff was sooo blah! But, then I decided to try making it homemade. Yes, I’m 29 years old, and had never eaten homemade mac and cheese. So like any good foodie, I searched the Food Network’s Web site, and finally settled on Em’s Mac n’ Cheese by Emeril Lagasse.

Oh.My.God. So good! And, a BIG hit with friends and family!

To be fair, I don’t follow the directions exactly, and use an entire package of cheddar and don’t use the Essence part of the recipe. Instead I add a little garlic salt and a lot of cracked pepper — both in the cheese mix and on top before I add bread crumbs. I also use 1 percent milk and add an extra tablespoon of flour while I’m whisking.

I’ve made this several times and its always been a hit. I prefer to use Kraft Natural Cheese, Sharp Cheddar. (I’ve tried it with other cheeses and it hasn’t come as good.)

Here are some photos from the process. It’s a great, quick and homemade meatless meal. I served it with Frontera Chardonnay.

Here are some shots of the process — you will see where they correspond with the recipe. It’s fun to make with a bunch of friends, too.

Click here for the recipe! And please share your favorite macaroni and cheese recipes below! I’d love to try them out.

Here is the buttered pan.

The mix of the butter and flour.

Mix in the milk.

All set for the oven!

Finished! So Yummy!

And, always remember to have some Fun.Friends.Adventure. in your life!

Cheers,

Michelle

The King of Salt and Dough

The German-speaking countries of Europe are full of very interesting baking creations. From rye bread to pumpernickel, croissants to Frankfurter Kranz , fruit cakes like zwetschgentorte, dumplings in their huge variety to just regular brötchen (potato breads, too), the list is enormous. But if there is one that sticks out as representative of German baking it’s the pretzel. We know it here as a salty, hard snack that goes well with beer, which is great in its own right. However, in Germany, especially in the south, it is a high art form that bakers spend considerable time perfecting. As of late, I have been doing some practicing myself and, along the way, have learned some very interesting things about this ages-old form of bread.

Pretzels are basically bread dough that has been dipped or boiled in some sort of a salt solution. If you open a cookbook and proceed to make them, the salt will be sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as baking soda. The formed pretzel is dipped or boiled in the solution, then baked. I like these and like making them, but I always wondered why they never came out that deep, mahogany brown that I know to be the distinguishing color of pretzels I get at the German deli. Then I found out from a German baker why; I’m using the wrong salt. To achieve this color, one must use instead sodium hydroxide, otherwise known as lye. That’s right; the same thing that cleans out drains also makes beautiful pretzels. It’s not poisonous, once baked it converts to bicarbonate, a rather harmless substance. That does not mean that one does not proceed with utmost care when making them. Since I can, I’m going to make them both, as the only difference is the salt. That way I can show, side by side, the difference. I shall then allow you to decide.

Start with basic white bread dough. You can pre-buy this, pre-make and refrigerate it till ready or make it fresh; it just needs to be at room temperature before you start. For our purposes we’ll assume the dough has gone through its first rise and has been punched down and start there (if you have questions on how to make a basic dough let me know; we bake all of our own bread and have it pretty well down. And a Kitchenaid makes it a snap).

Preheat oven to 450⁰.

Take four cups of water and add 1/3 cup of baking soda to it. This is for our baking soda pretzels. Set this aside. In a stainless bowl, add 4 cups of warm water. To this, add ¼ cup of lye SLOWLY. Stir with a wooden spoon and when dissolved, set aside.

Divide the dough, enough for one loaf, into 12 equal parts. The parts should be balls of dough about 2” in diameter. On a smooth, non-floured surface, start rolling the dough into an even strand that is 12-15 inches long.

rolling the dough for pretzel

Try not to add flour, as you want it a little sticky so the pretzel form will not fall apart. When the strand is made, fold it into a pretzel shape. I couldn’t take pictures of this while doing it, as I only have two hands, but here is a little diagram I absconded with from another website:

The mystery revealed

All pretzels made? Ok, take two cookie sheets and lightly grease. Place the baking soda water on the stove and bring to a boil. When boiling, add the pretzels one at a time and boil them for two minutes, turning once. Fish them out with a slotted spoon and place on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt to your liking, and place in the oven for about ten minutes or until brown.

Boiling pretzels in water and baking soda

Now, the others. Put on some painters gloves to protect yourself. With the lye water, place pretzels in the bath and let them sit for 1½ minutes. Fish them out and place on the cookie sheet, salt and bake for about 10 minutes.

The Outcome:

Left: Lye Pretzel Right: Baking Soda Pretzel

Well, they are different in appearance, but not too much in the taste department. I guess I would make the baking soda ones more often, as they are a little easier to make. But I must say that they never last long whichever one I do make. Also, we go through more American prepared mustard when I am on the pretzel-making kick. Enjoy!

The new expansion

In a time when things seem to be getting worse, it’s very nice to see some things that are getting better. Last November I wrote about the opening of a very nice, small produce stand that I found in Battle ground, Washington (see Produce stands, part 1), a great little place with excellent produce and a pretty good wine selection. I’ve since been there a few times (once going there right after shoveling in a load of horse manure into the back of my truck and, being rather conscious of its aroma, parking in the far corner, so as not to offend) and I can say that it has held its high rating in my mind.

Nuts, dried fruits, teas and other sundries

My family and I went back there last Saturday and I can safely state that it has become more of a destination for meal planning. Not only a slight expansion in the wine and dry goods (nuts, dried fruit teas etc.), but also the addition of a meat department that came complete with its own butcher!

Walt Coen, butcher extraodinaire

Please welcome Walt Coen, who is celebrating his 40^th anniversary as a butcher. Walt and his now-small (I have a feeling it won’t be that for long) meat section specialize in chicken, pork and beef. All the beef comes from Painted Hills, a ranch near Fossil, Oregon. They are well-known for raising beef in a humane manner, natural vegetarian diets and no antibiotics. Walt grinds all his own hamburger and bulk sausage in-house, and for link sausage they carry the local brand Zenners, and his selection of those should make any sausage lover happy (I hope one day to see Walt use his extensive knowledge and expand his sausage making operation to include making not just bulk, but link also. Right now, it’s merely a dream of mine).

Gallus de Vinum

Another great addition is wine tasting on Saturdays. The day we were there they had a beef brisket that had been marinating in pepper and burgundy for two days. Walt was preparing to smoke this for serving at the wine tasting. We didn’t stay for this, though I wanted to and I am sure it would have been a good time. Ill make sure we attend this in the future.

I look forward to going there again and for what other addition they may be doing in the future. Rumor be told, I heard word that it may have something to do with salami. But that’s just a rumor………………

Shasta Gold Mandarins

Those of you that live in the sunny, warm land to my south are lucky in some ways that I am envious of. One of those are things citrus. When I lived there I loved picking lemons, oranges and grapefruit. There seemed to be at least one of these at, neglected, every house. Many of the fruits of these excursions ended up in screwdrivers, greyhounds (or salty dogs), and margaritas. Ahh, if only it was a bit more temperate of a family rather than so stubbornly sub-tropical. I still can get them, but there is something missing when one must purchase rather than enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

Along with the aforementioned gifts from the Goddess Pomona, I also have a love of the mandarin. Its flavor is more subtle and its intoxicating aroma is a large part of its taste (like the lime). But sometimes even the best of things can get better.

Enter the Shasta Gold mandarin, one of the newest members of the family.  I was at a fruit stand the other day and they caught my eye. Deeply orange, large with a rough-appearing hide, it looked sort of like a tangelo without the nipple. Since I am given to exploring novelties of the food world, I picked up about a half a dozen. They’re fantastic.  Easy to peel (and the peel is thin), seedless and very juicy. They have the aroma that I expected of a mandarin, and a wee bit tarter than the Murcott.

Apparently, it was developed in 2002 at the University of California Riverside. It is a hybrid of the Temple tangor (a tangerine/orange hybrid) and Dancy and Encore mandarins. So, as far as things go, it’s a real newcomer. If I still lived in the sunny, warm land of my origin, I would definitely plant at least one in my yard. But, then again, if I lived there I would be getting my apples and pears by proxy. Such a conundrum!

Anyway, my fellow foodnuts, give it a go. Perhaps one day it will be as common as other citrus are in the land of Helios. Then your children might have memories of “Shasta Gold” hunts to make an as-yet-unnamed cocktail.