November 27th: mini chocolate orange muffins

Did you receive your 2012 Milk Calendar? I certainly got mine! I also got a jumpstart on the 2012 recipes, with O at my side, making mini chocolate orange muffins. They were pretty tasty. 48 mini muffins!

I also put the November 2011 recipe to the test: roast pork tenderloin and mushroom dinner. This is kind of like pork and mushroom soup, but on the healthier side. We didn't love this one. The white potatoes didn't cook through, even with much longer in the oven. If I were to do it again, I would drop the sweet potatoes, double and dice the white potatoes, and double the mushrooms. That might be worth a re-try. The pork was tender and delicious.

  

November 24th: chicken pot pie and chocolate toffee walnut cookies

Two to-die-for recipes!


For supper, from the keeper book: Chicken Pot Pie. I pulled this recipe out of the Ottawa Citizen a few years ago; it is from a local restaurant. Take a cheap cut of chicken, poach it, use that broth to cook the veggies, use the same broth to make a white sauce, mix it all up in a pie pan and top with - my favourite - puff pastry. Bake, relax, and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. I think even your picky eaters will like this one. My kid loooooves it. As does my husband. And moi.


Chicken Pot Pie


1 1/2 lbs (675 g) chicken pieces with skin and bones
1 tsp (5 mL) salt, divided
freshly ground black pepper
2 medium carrots, scrubbed and sliced
1 small onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, diced
1/4 cup (50 mL) butter
4 tbsp (65 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 mL) 35% cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon juice
1/2 397-g pkg frozen puff pastry, defrosted


Place chicken pieces in a medium saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Skim and add 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt and a pinch of freshly ground black pepper. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, 30 minutes.


Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Strain chicken, reserving the broth. Measure the broth and add water, if necessary, to equal 1 1/2 cups (375 mL). Place the liquid in the saucepan, add vegetables and simmer, partially covered, until just tender. Strain, reserving the stock.


While vegetables are cooking, debone and skin the chicken. Cut the meat into bite-size pieces. Combine meat with cooked vegetables in a 9" (23 cm) pie plate or individual oven-proof dishes.


Melt butter gently in saucepan. Gradually stir in flour, blending well. Cook over medium heat 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly add cream and cook until mixture is smooth and thick. Add salt, pepper to taste, lemon juice and reserved stock. Blend well and pour sauce over the chicken mixture.


Roll out defrosted puff pastry to 1/4" (6 mm) thickness, then lay pastry over pie(s) and press to the dish(es). Cut a slit in the centre to allow steam to escape. Bake until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes (less for small pies).


Serves 4.

I enjoy this photo because it appears I just piled the food on the glass stovetop.

For my Christmas cookie exchange - finally, a winner! - from epicurious: Chocolate Toffee Walnut Cookies. These are ridiculously awesome. The recipe suggests making 1/4 cup-sized cookies, which I think is over-indulgence (though probably an edible size!) so I made generous tablespoonful-sized cookies, which are plenty big and chewy and decadent enough. I used chocolate chips where it called for chopped chocolate, and Scor bars where it called for Heath. I managed to make 4 dozen cookies with one recipe, and note that the recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of flour. These are chocolate heaven. I will definitely be making these again.

November 18th: chocolate-stuffed chocolate chip peanut butter cookies and pork chops with Swiss chard and cranberries

I chalk it up to a bad case of baby brain. I set out to make my second batch of Christmas cookie exchange cookies, and the whole thing was a disaster. I'm still scratching my head as to why. It was Sunday afternoon. I had had a nap, so was well rested. Greg and Olivia were out, so the house was quiet. I scrubbed the kitchen top to bottom, so the setting was clean. In other words, there were no distractions and no excuses!


I set out to make an epicurious recipe: Chocolate-stuffed chocolate chip peanut butter cookies. Two chocolate chip cookies sandwiched together with a chocolate layer. Fancy, yes, but not over-the-top. I decided to replace the milk chocolate with darker chocolate for a richer and less cloying taste. And so I proceed:


I mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and set it aside. I mix the wet ingredients in a second bowl and set it aside. I turn on the oven and prepare my pans. I then begin scooping batter onto my pan. I'm a little concerned, as the batter is much runnier than a cookie batter usually is. Enough runnier that I decide to take a picture:

I set the first pan in the hot oven. I am thinking, maybe the batter is runny because they are going to be sandwich cookies, and they need to be flatter. At this point, I realize I've forgotten to stir in the chocolate chips. Okay, no problem; the cookies in the oven will be the bottoms and I'll add the chocolate chips to the remaining batter and they will be the tops. I decide to halve the number of chipits. Then I scoop out the second pan.


All this takes place within three minutes, after which time I am ready to prepare my chocolate filling, reach for the bowl and - oh - see that I have a full bowl of dry ingredients I forgot to mix into the wet! So that's why the batter was runny! I hastily grab the pan out of the oven and without even thinking, pour the batter (it is warm and runny and pours no problem) back into the bowl, whereupon it promptly sets the chocolate chips to melting. I do the same with the second prepared pan of batter, then dump in the dry ingredients and stir the whole mess together.


At this point, I think, a break to re-group is required. I leave the kitchen for an hour.


To sum up, I later re-scooped and baked the cookies, forgetting to set my oven properly, and ended up burning the first pan. Thus, I have half-melted-half-the-amount-called-for-chocolate-chips, improperly stirred in flour, half burnt, stuffed cookies, looking thusly:

Taste-wise, they were not awful. We ate the burnt-est of the burnt and I froze the rest - not enough in the end for my cookie exchange in any case. Maybe we'll bring them out for our Christmas party.


I'd like to say supper went better. I was cooking an old fave, also from epicurious: Pork chops with Swiss chard and cranberries. It's a slightly complicated recipe, so again, it seemed like this would be a good day to tackle it, what with having the house to myself and being all clean (the house) and relaxed (me, although slightly frazzled based on the cookie incident). I didn't go terribly wrong with this recipe, but did get a little overwhelmed at one point when I had all four burners on the stove on, plus the oven. But look how beautifully supper turned out:

It was delicious, too.

November 14th: hazelnut butter chocolate chip cookies and stuffed mushrooms

As you've likely noticed the lack of posting this month, I must explain that I've been almost exclusively cooking recipes I've already featured on this blog. It's been a month of good eating.


With my Christmas cookie exchange coming up, I had originally planned to make the same cookies I made last year - sugar cookies and Pfeffernüsse - but then I came across a few recipes on epicurious that sounded yummy, so chose three to try out. I made the first one today: Hazelnut butter chocolate chip cookies. I'm not sure the cookies are worth the $12 jar of hazelnut butter; peanut butter probably would have worked just fine. I also don't think they are as good as these peanut butter cookies. I may use the other half of the jar of hazelnut butter and follow the peanut butter recipe to see what I think. They weren't bad. I just didn't feel they were stellar. Also, I halved the chocolate chip amount; 2 cups seemed over the top.

I also made a make-ahead appetizer. I took my Cook's Illustrated Make Ahead Meals magazine to work to loan to my pregnant friend Janice, who is prepping for arrival of baby. Whilst flipping through the book before I gave it to her, I came across a recipe for make-ahead stuffed mushrooms. These can't be frozen, but can be refrigerated, so they're one- or two-days ahead cooking. I thought that sounded like a good thing to make with Shannon visiting this week (her third trip to Ottawa this year!).


I already have an a-maze-ing stuffed mushroom recipe, but it is labour-intensive and I don't know how it would do if prepped in advance - probably fine. My keeper recipe is a cream cheese-stuffed mushroom, whereas this recipe is a goat cheese-stuffed mushroom, which I thought might also be healthier. In any case, I didn't love the Cook's Illustrated recipe, but I did think it was good; in fact, I enjoyed them more the second day than I did the first, so, I'll share:


Make-ahead Goat cheese-stuffed Mushrooms


1 slice high-quality white sandwich bread, quartered
6 tbsps extra virgin olive oil, divided
9 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 3 tbsps), divided
table salt and freshly ground black pepper
24 (1 1/2- to 2-inch-wide) white mushroom caps, cleaned (stems removed and discarded)
4 ounces goat cheese, softened
1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves, or 1/4 tsp dried


Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300°F. Pulse bread in food processor to coarse crumbs, about 6 pulses. Toss crumbs with 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp garlic, 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Spread crumbs on rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and dry, about 20 minutes; transfer to bowl and set aside to cool.


Increase oven temperature to 450°F. Mix 4 more tbsps oil with remaining 2 tbsps garlic, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper, then toss with mushroom caps. Lay caps, gill side down, on foil- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast mushrooms until they release their juices, about 20 minutes. Flip caps over and continue to roast until liquid has evaporated completely and mushrooms are brown all over, about 10 minutes longer. Remove mushrooms from oven, flip gill side down, and set aside to drain any excess moisture.


Line second baking sheet with foil or parchment; set aside. Mix goat cheese, thyme and remaining 1 tbsp oil together until smooth, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer cheese mixture to small zip-lock bag and snip off bottom corner of bag using scissors. Pipe about 1 tsp of goat cheese mixture into each mushroom cap and top with bread crumbs. Transfer stuffed mushrooms to prepared baking sheet.


TO STORE: Wrap baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days.


TO SERVE: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450°F. Unwrap mushrooms and bake until mushrooms and filling are hot and crumbs are crisp, about 10 minutes.


Makes 24 mushrooms.

We especially liked the crumbly topping; I'm going to try adding this to my
cream cheese stuffed mushrooms, the next time I make them!

November 7th: banana bread

I realize I teased two weeks ago, referencing my mom's banana bread without providing the  recipe. Luckily, Greg let a few more bananas go brown, so I had to make, and can share, this recipe with you. There is none better!


Banana Bread


1/2 cup sour milk (see below for instructions)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for pans
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed overripe bananas (2-3)
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp salt


To prepare sour milk: Place 1/2 tsp vinegar in a measuring cup. Top up with milk to reach 1/2 cup. Stir and set aside.


Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously butter 1-2 medium-large loaf pans.*


In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas.


In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.


Alternately add dry ingredients and sour milk to large bowl. Mix thoroughly.


Divide batter between greased loaf pans. Bake for 40-60 minutes, depending on size of pans. Check frequently for doneness towards end of cooking.


*I don't have a proper-sized loaf pan, so I use one 8 x 4 and then two mini loaf pans. The mini pans take less time to cook, obviously.

UPDATE: February 5, 2014: I made this banana bread today but wanted to up the health quotient. I cut the sugar back to 1 cup and used 1 cup each all-purpose and whole wheat flours. It turned out great. Next time, I might try just 3/4 cup sugar.

November 4th: Hot and sour shrimp soup

Coincidence! Last year on November 4th, I made hot and sour chicken soup. What are the chances? Two different recipes, but both from Chatelaine and I remember modifying last year's so it more closely resembled this one, which I've been making for years: from March 2007's Chatelaine: Ginger-scented shrimp and mushroom soup. I've made some modifications to this over the years: I use bottled or frozen ginger because I don't have patience for gingerroot, I may or may not use the recommended bamboo shoots, and I often add rice noodles and/or bean sprouts. I decided whilst in the grocery store today to make this tonight (this last-minute decision-making is not the norm for me!) and bought ingredients based on memory. Therefore, this one had no bamboo shoots or bean sprouts, but did have onion and baby bok choy. I really don't think you can go wrong. I'm debating leaving out one of the three tablespoons of vinegar next time.


That's a lot of text for a 10 minute soup!