Category: Recipes

The Best Pita Bread and Garlic Sauce (Toum) Recipes
Recipes

The Best Pita Bread and Garlic Sauce (Toum) Recipes

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Living in Michigan, freshly made pita bread and garlic sauce is usually as close as a quarter mile away wherever you are at any given time. We have a large population of residents of Middle Eastern descent and there’s a good number of restaurants that serve delectable Middle Eastern cuisine. My favorite, garlic sauce and pita bread. It’s a beautiful thing. 

I love, love, love pita bread and garlic sauce!  It occurred to me the hard way to not love it so much at lunch time when you have to return to the office and/or lead a meeting. But occasionally, I’ll throw caution to the wind – and it’s always worth it. If you’ve never had it, garlic sauce as you might guess, can be quite pungent and the aroma has a tendency to want to hang around.  I mean it is garlic, after all.

If you love it as much as I do, it’s hard to resist slathering warm pita with a shmear of thick, creamy, garlic sauce. If you’re not careful, it is very easy to down one after another and another and get too full to have an entree’.

It’s Tricky

And, if you love it like that, finding the best recipe to make it when you want it is the next logical step. I learned that while it only uses four simple ingredients, making garlic sauce can be a little tricky to master.  I’ve made it a few times. The first time, it was an unmitigated, oily mess.  It didn’t occur to me that I could have just held on to that epic failure to add it in other dishes to great success.  Instead, I trashed that disappointment without a second thought.

I had a little more success the second time around but, not by much. But I learned since my second attempt though, that adding a little cooked, mashed potato into the sauce to thicken it up some can offer up a bit of redemption.  Makes sense I guess, but that bit of intel was about a year and a half too late. Also, while the taste of boiled potato is pretty neutral, it still seems to me that it would alter the flavor of the sauce.

Sometimes It Takes a Little Practice (For Me)

The third time was the charm, I nailed it!  No yogurt or boiled potatoes necessary.  All I needed to do was slow down. Who knew?  Well, apparently everyone that successfully makes garlic sauce knew. If the emulsion doesn’t come together or breaks, you’re not going to have a successful sauce.  Garlic sauce will not be rushed.

I would also recommend that if you dream of the creamy, snow white garlic sauce that’s served in restaurants, don’t use grapeseed oil.  I did that so you don’t have to. Grapeseed oil has a green tint. While that’s ok and the sauce turned out fine; it was still delicious, I was forced by the perfectionist in me to make it again just to get the lily white result I expected. This time I used canola oil. Grapeseed oil will still yield a tasty sauce but, it was the aesthetics that drove me nuts.

Most of the recipes you’ll find on the internet have the four basic ingredients that make an outstanding sauce: salt, oil, lemon and garlic.  Fresh garlic. But it was the one ingredient that was never listed on any recipe that eluded me, and it was patience.  Hardly anyone tells you about that fifth ingredient but, Yumna at Feel Good Foodie does and this is where we found this delicious toum recipe.

Take it Slow

Rushing through the process could result in a disastrous, soupy sauce. Then you’ll have to try to remediate it with boiled potatoes or yogurt.  Nobody wants that. Adding the oil very s-l-o-w-l-y and alternating with the lemon juice is the key. The lemon juice helps to combine and emulsify the sauce and prevents the oil from overpowering the garlic. 

Greek yogurt is helpful to thicken it up a bit if needed and will tamp down the sharp taste of garlic if it’s too strong for your taste. You can also soak your garlic cloves in cold water for about 45 minutes to help cut the sharpness.  The flavor of the garlic sauce will also mellow out after a day or so in the refrigerator.

Pita bread

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It’s hard to resist warm pita bread straight from the oven.  Just like garlic sauce, pita has very few ingredients but, it is sooo freakin’ good! Watching it puff up in the oven creating pockets perfect for hummus, garlic sauce, shawarma or tabouli is like magic. 

I find that of all the bread recipes I’ve made over the years, this is one of the easiest. Usually the recipes I make call for active dry yeast. This recipe calls for instant yeast but you can use active dry yeast if that’s what you have on hand. You  will have to proof it before adding it to the recipe.  The upside is there is no kneading this dough. And, you don’t need a mixer.

This is Not Your Run of the Mill Grocery Store Pita

Another upside is that you probably already have all the ingredients on hand and it’s so easy that making a few pita loaves is pretty much a slam dunk. 

If you have a pizza stone or steel, that’s great.  You can cook the loaves directly on the stone or steel. If you don’t have either of these, no worries.  You can cook the bread in a cast iron skillet in the oven.

I’ve made this bread recipe a couple times after trying a different recipe.  I prefer this recipe.  My pita remained a little light in color, even when I flipped them to get a little color but, it was still delicious.

It does not make a pita loaf that you’d find in the grocery store.  I hesitate to disparage grocery store pita because it is exactly the same as the pita you find in the Coney Islands here in Michigan. They taste ok but not like homemade.

Cook It Now, or Later

If you’re planning to cook it later, you can store the mixed dough in the refrigerator. After letting it rise for about 1-½ hour, punch it down, cover with cling wrap and sit it in the refrigerator overnight. You can also portion out the dough into balls and keep it in the refrigerator for a day as well, just seal it so it doesn’t form a crust.

How long does it last?  About 3 days in a tightly sealed container.  You can also freeze the pita loaves for up to three months. The pita bread recipe is adapted from Alexandra’s Kitchen and was the best and easiest one I’ve found.

Both the garlic sauce and pita bread are a great treat that’s easy to make for a few or for a crowd and is a perfect anytime snack.

Garlic Sauce (Toum)

Print Recipe
Prep Time 45 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Mediterranean
Servings 2 cups

Equipment

  • mini food processor

Ingredients
  

Garlic Sauce

  • 1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves, sliced length-wise with germ removed
  • 1-½ cup Canola, safflower or any neutral oil
  • ¼ cup Lemon juice
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt

Instructions
 

Garlic Sauce

  • Slice each garlic clove length-wise and remove the green germ in the center of the clove, if visible.
  • Add sliced garlic and salt to food processor and blend until finely minced, for a about a minute, scrapping down the sides of the bowl.
  • With food processor running, slowly pour one to two tablespoons of oil, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl occasionally. Pour one or two more tablespoons of oil and process until sauce becomes emulsified.
  • Continuing with food processor running, add one teaspoon of lemon juice. Continue adding oil and lemon juice by the tablespoon and teaspoon respectively, alternating between the two until all of the oil and juice have been added. This process should take about 20 minutes.
  • Transfer sauce to a glass container with a tight seal and refrigerate. Sauce should last up to three months.
Keyword creamy, garlic, sauce, toum

Pita Bread

Print Recipe
Prep Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Mediterranean
Servings 6 loaves

Equipment

  • pizza stone or baking steel (optional) or cast iron skillet

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups All-purpose flour (plus more for sprinkling)
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • ¾ cup Warm water (110-115°F)
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil (plus 1 tsp)

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt and instant yeast.
  • Add water and one tablespoon of olive oil. Stir until combined and dough begins to form.
  • Knead dough just until flour is absorbed and form into a ball.
  • Drizzle extra olive oil over top of dough ball. Turn over making sure entire ball is coated with oil. Cover with kitchen towel or cling wrap. Move to a warm place and let rise for 1.5 hours.
  • After dough has risen to about double it's original size, turn out on lightly floured surface and knead into a ball.
  • Preheat oven to 550° F. Heat pizza stone or baking steel according to manufacturer's directions. If you're using a cast iron skillet, heat skillet for at least 5 minutes before baking.
  • Divide ball into six equal pieces. Roll each portion into a ball, using flour to prevent sticking. Let balls rest for 30 minutes.
  • Flatten a ball and using a rolling pin, gently roll out until it becomes a 6-inch round. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
  • Let rounds rest for about 15 minutes.
  • Using a pizza peel or spatula, slide flattened dough rounds onto pizza stone, baking stone or skillet. If using a skillet you'll bake one pita at a time. If using a pizza stone or steel, you can cook 2-3 rounds at a time.
  • Bake for2 minutes or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining dough rounds.
  • Pita can be stored in an airtight container for about 3 days.
Keyword bread, pita, yeast bread

There Are Still Mardi Gras Celebrations This Year and Here’s a Crab Cake Recipe to Get in on the Fat Tuesday Fun!
Recipes

There Are Still Mardi Gras Celebrations This Year and Here’s a Crab Cake Recipe to Get in on the Fat Tuesday Fun!

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Mardi Gras has been celebrated in Louisiana longer than the state has been in the Union. My plan this year was to visit there for Mardi Gras and do a little restaurant and bar hopping, particularly Sazarac House on Magazine Street. But as we all know, travel is not the smartest idea during these times.

I love the idea of Mardi Gras and pledged that we would celebrate it on Retta Cooked It every year.  This is the second year and here are some of last year’s Mardi Gras recipes you might be interested in trying.   

Mardi Gras is celebrated on the last day of Carnival, the day before Ash Wednesday ushering in the season of Lent. Mardi Gras in Louisiana will be celebrated, albeit a little differently this year. There will still be lots to do and the krewes are still putting it down NOLA-style for residents and visitors alike. Folks are encouraged to deck out the outside of their homes to resemble Mardi Gras floats and celebrate “Yardi Gras” to continue to observe the health and safety measures put in place for COVID.

This year as with every Fat Tuesday for the past few centuries, the drinks and food will still flow in abundance without a break in that tradition. With the upcoming season of Lent, what better place is there to load up on rich foods but New Orleans. And, if you are not in NOLA and want to do a little something to give Fat Tuesday some love, here’s a crab cake recipe that pays homage to the annual celebration like no other. 

Along with the official drink of New Orleans, the Sazerac, crab cakes are standard fare in Louisiana and are a Mardi Gras favorite. Also as with most southern dishes, there are as many varieties as there are people. As far as Mardi Gras celebrations go, many crabs gave their lives in service to the last day of Carnival! 

I’ve researched many crab cake recipes and tried out a few. Each of them seemed to have been missing something. This recipe is a marriage of a few recipes I’ve tried and it might be one of the best crab cakes you’ll ever put in your mouth.  These crab cakes have a little bit of everything that makes a crab happy to have sacrificed its life.

Crab Cakes

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb lump crab, picked for shells
  • 2 tbsp Panko bread crumbs
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp spicy mustard
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp green onion
  • 2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Add bread crumbs, egg, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, dill, green onion, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and Old Bay seasoning ™. Fold in ingredients gently with a wooden spoon or spatula being careful not to break up the lumps of crabmeat. Form into patties; this should make about 5-6 crab cakes.
  • Let formed crab cakes rest in the refrigerator for about ½ hour.
  • To cook on the stovetop, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and fry crab cakes for about 4 minutes each side or until golden brown on both sides.
  • A note of personal preference: Although it's perfectly fine to fry these crab cakes, these crab cakes can be baked as well. 
  • Crab cakes can be baked in a 475 degree oven for 8 – 10 minutes. Place crab cake in a shallow pan that has been sprayed  with a non-stick cooking spray. Crab cakes do not need to be turned over.
  • Enjoy with a roumalade or tartar sauce.
Keyword baked crab cakes, crab patties, fried crab cakes, lump crab
Do Yourself Some Jerk Chicken!
Recipes

Do Yourself Some Jerk Chicken!

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Jerk chicken, beans and rice and, fried plantain

You want to do yourself a favor? Do yourself some jerk chicken! Jerk is a uniquely Jamaican style of cooking and you can’t fake the funk. This style of cooking is a mouthwatering blend of spice, sweet and heat. Traditionally, this method of cooking uses either a dry-rub or a wet marinade and it’s grilled over green pimento wood in a jerk pan on a half-barrel grill.

A drum or pan isn’t necessary for delicious jerk chicken. All you need is a decent recipe and an idea of how good jerk chicken tastes to get close to the real deal. The ingredients are all very easy to get your hands on, even Walkerswood marinade, which is indisputably the marinade of choice and can be found online or at any Jamaican grocery.

Making jerk chicken is straightforward, not the Chef Du Jour thing I made it out to be the first time I seriously took a stab it. There’s no value in over-thinking it. I find it falls in the ‘simple is sophisticated’ category. The ingredients come together so beautifully, it’s not complex. Green seasoning is also used in jerk wet marinade, as with many standard Jamaican dishes, and includes fresh thyme, green onion, garlic and other seasonings. Green seasoning is definitely a staple in most Jamaican households and everyone has their own way of making it. I like this one from Recipes from a Pantry.

Third Time is the Charm!

Although I’ve tried my hand at this dish many times, I had been faking the funk! But, this was my third serious go at it in order to get that perfect characteristic flavor because of course, I don’t want to post anything that I haven’t tried myself and gotten at least close to perfection.  In the past, I just played around with it and called it jerk chicken.

As great a cook as you might be, perfecting some of the simplest dishes can sometimes elude you. That happened to me with jerk chicken and with my Aunt Josephine’s All Butter Pound Cake. And really all it usually takes is a simple tweak and you’re good!

Some Islanders’ may say “oh, you got it all wrong, man!”, and to that I’ll say my buddy Yolanda and her daughter, who grew up on Jamaican food came by and taste-tested the chicken and my fried plantain, rice and beans. She and her daughter said I nailed it. I’ve eaten her food so I take her and her daughter as the word of authority and I don’t argue with authority!

ripe plantain is sweet and not super firm, while green plantain is hard and starchy.

Try the optional ingredients in the recipe to kick up the flavor. (Note: I do not receive any compensation for any links in this post.)

Jerk Chicken Dinner

Menu
Jerk Chicken
Rice and Beans
Fried Plantain

Jerk Chicken

Ingredients:
Whole chicken, cut up
White vinegar
Walkerswood jerk seasoning (mild or spicy)
Green seasoning (recipe)
Salt
Pepper
Maggi seasoning
Lime juice
Optional Ingredients:
Ground pimento (allspice)
Browning
Ginger
Nutmeg
Garlic

1. Wash chicken in water and and vinegar. Rinse chicken in water and lime juice, pat dry.
2. In a bowl, season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg.
3. Using your hands, mix in jerk, green and maggi seasonings and browning until chicken is well coated.
4. Wrap bowl in cling wrap and let marinate at least one hour to overnight.
5. After chicken has marinated, chicken can be grilled or baked in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees. If chicken is baked, cover pan in aluminum foil for the first half hour of cooking.
6. Once chicken is done, remove from oven and cover with foil again to let rest so juices can redistribute.

Beans and Rice

1 bag, Dark red kidney beans, washed and sorted
1 cup, Jasmine rice, rinsed
1-1/2 cup water or chicken stock
1 1/2 can of coconut milk
1T Green seasoning

Couple sprigs of fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 Scallion
1 Scotch bonnet or habanero pepper
Pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste

  1. Once beans have soaked (preferably overnight), in a heavy bottom pot, cover beans with water or chicken stock. Add thyme, garlic and scallion and cook beans until soft (smash between fingers to feel for doneness).
  2. Add coconut milk, green seasoning, scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, salt and pepper and let simmer for about ten minutes.
  3. Add rice and cook until rice is done and fluffy (about 20-minutes).

Fried Plantain

Ripe plantain
Cooking oil
Optional ingredients:
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cinnamon
Honey

  1. Heat frying pan and add oil.
  2. Choose ripe plantain. (Green, firm plantain are hard and starchy. the darker the skin, the sweeter the plantain.) Peel plantains and cut into thirds. Slice each third in half.
  3. Place cut plantain in hot oil, cut side down. When lightly browned, take out of pan and lightly smash the plantain slices.
  4. Put plantain slices back into hot pan to lightly brown on the other side.
  5. Drain excess oil on paper towels.
  6. Sprinkle cinnamon and lightly drizzle with honey.

The Perfect Easter Dinner: Roasted Pork Loin, Hasselback Potatoes, Ginger Glazed Brussels Sprouts with Baby Carrots
Make it Monday

The Perfect Easter Dinner: Roasted Pork Loin, Hasselback Potatoes, Ginger Glazed Brussels Sprouts with Baby Carrots

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So. Easter dinner. It’ll be here soon, what are you going to serve? If you’re fresh out of ideas, here’s a meal that is Easter dinner-worthy without the heavy lift. Roasted pork loin, hasselback potatoes and ginger glazed brussels sprouts with carrots. Sounds simple, huh? It is. It’s an easy meal for two or 22.  And leftovers? Uh, no. If you’re ambitious enough you can also bake a pan of Homemade cloverleaf rolls and whip up some panna cotta with a mixed berry sauce or a peach cobbler for dessert. Smiles all around!

Fresh pork loin, fat cap removed

Pork loin can be a perfect choice for Easter dinner or any dinner, quite frankly.  It can also be a pretty bland hunk of meat and if it’s overcooked well, it can be pretty gag inducing, too. YIKES!  No one has to cook a sucky pork loin and it doesn’t take a ton of  time or advanced culinary chops to cook a juicy pork loin loaded with flavor that everyone loves.

Marinades, while delicious, won’t really fix a pork loin that cuts like wood. I’m certainly not saying that a marinade is useless, it can definitely add flavor to your meat. It will amp up the flavor on the surface and if it includes salt it will penetrate the meat some. A marinade also includes acid and can run the risk of leaving meat a little mushy. Brining however, will flavor the meat throughout and depending on the size of the cut, doesn’t have to take hours on end. It’s what I swear by.  The trick? Salt.

How To Brine Meat

There are tons of brine recipes on the internet but creating a brine is incredibly simple. Because pork loin is a very lean cut it tends to dry out quickly if it’s overcooked. Salt are the magic crystals that makes the meat more tender. It relies on osmosis to exchange the fluid in the brine with the water inside the meat. Brining alters the chemical structure of proteins by breaking some of the bonds that give proteins their shape. The salt denatures the meat proteins, causing them to unwind and trap water. 

 The salt in the brine helps to break down the muscle and collagen in the meat rendering it moist and not tight and chewy. A problem some people run into is brining the meat too long. If the meat soaks in the brine for too long, the protein bonds can tighten back up and push the liquid out, turning that hunk of meat awfully tough. You don’t have to do a days-long marathon brine because you don’t want to hit a saturation point and get to the point of diminishing returns. Here’s a pretty in depth explanation on brining from Cookshack that has way more insight on the finer points of brining meats. 

Roasted Pork Loin Dinner
The Sides:
Hasselback Potatoes

I like to think of hasselback potatoes as a baked potato upgrade. With the super thin slices, it makes a pretty presentation. It doesn’t matter how large, small or type of potato, it still looks great on a plate. I can’t seem to make the super thin slices some folks are able to.

My slices are about 1/8th of an inch apart at my best and if you’re like me and don’t have the ginsu knife skills of a Japanese chef, it’s much easier if you have a slicing assist for hasselback potatoes. If you have chopsticks handy, you can place the potato between them (I tape them down on the counter so they don’t shift around).

You can also use a couple of wooden spoons. You want to slice straight down but do not slice all the way through the potato. If you leave about 1/4″ uncut at the bottom you should be in safe territory and the chopsticks will stop you from slicing clean through the potato.

Potatoes through first half of cooking

Brush a little melted butter and season with salt, pepper and other seasonings you prefer on your potato. Around halfway through baking, about 30 minutes, the slices will begin to fan out. I brush more butter on the potatoes to make sure I get as much buttery goodness all the way through the potato that I can. Once they’re done, garnish with fresh minced chives. You can also dress up the potatoes with my bacon jam or add bacon bits, cheddar, and sour cream. All of these would be fantastic on these potatoes too, but this recipe does not call for any of that . We’re going for simplicity here.

Brussels Sprouts

I grew up HATING brussels sprouts! I’m still not the biggest fan of those midget cabbages. I was trained to dislike them early because they were prepared so badly. There was a time a lot folks overcooked vegetables like brussels sprouts to oblivion to ensure they were done. This rendered them bitter, flavorless, waterlogged, and just plain awful and it made children all over the world cry. I’ve had them a few times since I was a kid and they were less bad but I wasn’t impressed.  That’s not the highest compliment you could pay for any food but, I have tried on rare occasions to try to like them because I know they are very healthy and good for me.

In giving this vegetable another shot after all these years, the brussels sprout has found redemption. These ginger glazed brussels sprouts are good and paired with roasted pork loin. Who knew? These sprouts along with baby carrots are sautéed in olive oil and butter, five spice powder, gingerale, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Sautee the brussels sprouts and carrots until they begin to caramelize, adjust the heat to medium, and add about a quarter cup of gingerale. Let the liquid simmer and reduce a little. Toss the brussels sprouts and carrots in the pan to ensure they are coated with the gingerale mixture. The sugar in the gingerale will help blunt some of the bitterness, and the fat of the oil and butter also offsets the bitterness of the brussels sprouts.

You Can Now Eat With Others, No Really!

The most awesome thing I’ve heard so far this year is it seems we are near the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and can now begin to have small gatherings with friends and family if we and they have been fully vaccinated. YAY!  This means that we can sit down to a meal with humans other than the ones in our household (no offense to those humans). It’s just sometimes it’s refreshing to see different faces around the dinner table and now we can. YAY, again. 

Roasted Pork Loin

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 12 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 13 hours 10 minutes
Course Main Course

Equipment

  • large pot, large container to brine pork loin,

Ingredients
  

Brine:

  • ½ cup Kosher salt per gallon of water
  • ½ cup Sugar, per gallon of water
  • 1 tsp Rosemary
  • 1 tsp Thyme
  • 1 tsp Cracked peppercorns

Pork loin

  • 1 Pork loin
  • 1 tsp Pepper
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp Rosemary
  • 1 tsp Thyme
  • 1 tsp Garlic powder
  • 1/2 tp Oregano
  • 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
  • ⅓ cup Grainy mustard
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp Honey

Red Wine Reduction Sauce

  • 1 cup Red wine
  • 1 cup Vegetable broth
  • ½ tbsp Shallots, finely chopped
  • ½ tsp Minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp Butter

Instructions
 

Brine

    Add salt, sugar, rosemary, thyme and peppercorns to water. Once water come to a rolling boil, take off heat and let it cool completely. Add pork loin, cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.

      Pork loin

      • Preheat oven to 400°
      • Mix seasonings with mustard and honey.
      • Rinse, dry and truss pork loin to keep it's shape while cooking. Do not cut off the fat cap. Cover surface of meat with mustard preparation. Put in a roasting pan with a rack and cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 350° and cook pork loin 20 minutes for evry pound.
      • Pork loin is done once the interior of the meat reads 145° with an instant read thermometer. Remove from oven, tent loosely with foil and let it rest for at about 15 minutes before slicing.

      Red Wine Reduction Sauce

      • Sautee' diced shallots an garlic in butter until transparent
      • Add wine and simmer until it has reduced about ¼.
      • Add beef broth and simmer until reduced by about half, about 5 minutes.
      Keyword loin, pork, pork loin, roasted


      How to: Making Cruffins!
      Recipes

      How to: Making Cruffins!

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      The cruffin. Half croissant, half muffin, all good. I discovered cruffins when my husband and I traveled to North Carolina to visit his twin brother who was undergoing a major surgery.  We spent a lot of time at the hospital, and hospitals are boring. Lucky for me I had my laptop with me to pass the time.  As I was surfing one afternoon looking for a fun recipe to try, I ran across the C-R-U-F-F-I-N!!!

      I found the cruffin on YouTube. This was new, at least to me and they were so pretty I couldn’t wait to get home to try them. But man, did it look like a lot of work and I was a little intimidated, but turns out, it was well worth it.  

      The cruffin is so pretty you wouldn’t want to eat it, at least for a minute. They are layer upon layer of soft, melt in your mouth buttery goodness. This particular recipe is adapted from Bold Bread with a few tweaks. I cut out a bit of the sugar because it just seemed too sweet for my taste and I also made a couple cruffins with a thin filling of cinnamon and sugar more like a schmear, actually. I amped up the vanilla and switched out ⅓ of the all-purpose flour with bread flour, because it just makes a finer crumb.

      Next Time I’ll Try Tangzhong!

      What resulted was a slightly sweet, delicate muffin/croissant hybrid. The outside is a little crusty and the inside has layers and layers that are soft and chewy. Although it is a bit of work, if you have a little free time it’s a wonderful addition to a special menu for Easter dinner or Christmas breakfast. 

      The next time I make cruffins, I will try it with the tangzhong method of bread making. What the heck is that you ask? It’s an easy Japanese bread making method that I’ll go more into when I post my piece on milk bread. This will make the cruffin even more light and airy.

      With my next batch, I’ll also include a blueberry filling for some and a cinnamon/sugar filling again. I’ll add a little more of the filling and a cream cheese icing drizzle. I hope you try this recipe and if you do, please post pictures in the comments section below!

      Cruffins

      Print Recipe
      Prep Time 2 hours
      Course Side Dish
      Servings 2 dozen

      Ingredients
        

      • ⅓ cup Granulated sugar
      • 1-½ tsp Active, dry yeast
      • 1 cup Warm milk
      • 3 cup All-purpose flour
      • ½ tsp Salt
      • ¼ cup Melted unsoftened butter
      • ½ tsp Vanilla extract
      • ½ cup Softened butter for filling
      • powdered sugar for dusting

      Instructions
       

      • Preheat oven to 350°
      • Grease muffin pan with butter and set aside.
      • In a large bowl, stir together warm milk, granulated sugar and yeast. Set aside for about 15 minutes to rise to a foam. Once the foamy yeast mixture has risen, sift the flour into the yeast mixture. Add melted butter, salt and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
      • Turn mixture onto a lightly floured pan. Knead dough for 8 – 10 minutes. Form into a ball. Press finger down into dough ball. If it springs back, set dough in well oiled bowl.
      • Cover bowl with cling wrap and set in a warm place to double in size (about 1 to 1-1/2 hours) minutes.
      • Once the dough has risen, turn out onto floured surface, knead for a few turns and then form a ball. Cut the ball into 4 equal pieces. and shape into smaller balls. (If you want smaller cruffins cut into 8 equal pieces. )
      • With a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough. Roll dough as thinly and evenly as possible. The longer the dough is rolled, the more layers the cruffin will have.
      • Once each ball of dough is rolled out, generously brush on butter. Carefully hand roll each piece of dough into a "log". Roll away from you and roll as tightly as possible without distorting the roll.
      • After each piece of dough have been rolled into a log shape, cut each log length-wise. Roll sliced piece into a tight circle being careful to tuck the ends under the bottom of the roll and put in muffin tin.
      • Let rolls rise for about 1/2 hour. Brush each roll with an egg wash.
      • Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Take out of oven and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Let cool for about 5 minutes in pan then transfer to a cooling rack.
      Keyword bread, cruffins, rolls

      I will upload an instructional video soon.

      For the Love of All Things Mardi Gras (Part Two): Aunt John’s Jambalaya
      Make it Monday

      For the Love of All Things Mardi Gras (Part Two): Aunt John’s Jambalaya

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      Call it serendipity or call it dumb luck. When I stumbled across this recipe I was elated! I got it from my Aunt Nellie. My Aunt Nellie got the recipe from our great Aunt John. And, the one and I mean ONLY dish that Nellie could rock was jambalaya. She was never the greatest in the kitchen (my mom and Aunt Joe were the kitchen magicians), but she thought she was a beast in the kitchen and nobody ever told her she wasn’t because she was also kind of a bully.  My Aunt Nellie, who my older sister and I would visit in New Jersey in the summer when we were kids, lived with our great Aunt John, my granddaddy Bill’s older sister, from the age of 12 until she got married and moved to New Jersey at age 25.

      Neither me nor my brothers and sisters ever set eyes on Aunt John. We don’t even know why she was named John but it was her given name. Aunt John was a young woman when she moved to New Orleans. We figured it was because she needed to get out of the Georgia woods or maybe she was run out of Georgia seeing that everyone that remembered her said she was a scoundrel but no one ever said what she did outside of stealing land from my granddaddy.

      At one point, Aunt John attempted to open a restaurant with her first husband. Evil tendencies and family drama aside, a slamming pot of jambalaya was the one thing my Aunt Nellie learned from Aunt John and although now Aunt Nellie’s health is failing a bit, she was still able to pass that recipe along.  

      Jambalaya is one of my all time favorite dishes. We never visited Louisiana and being born in the north, we never had it as kids except during our visits to Jersey. As great a cook as my mom was, she never cooked it and I never had it again until I was grown and then, only in restaurants. 

      Now just let me say no one, not Aunt John or anybody else has a lock on the original jambalaya.  So, you’re not going to travel to the French Quarter of New Orleans or deep into the bayou and stumble across the old dude that created it, although you might find some old dude that says he did. What you will find are an endless number of jambalaya recipes, same with gumbo or etouffee. And just like me of course, everyone thinks theirs is the best.

      Aunt John’s jambalaya is the creole version or red jambalaya. The Cajun version doesn’t have tomatoes but, just about anything that could have had a mother can be added; duck, bear, alligator; it’s all fair game. I think I prefer the creole version that I’m used to. It is a spicy, hearty dish with shrimp, chicken, andouille sausage with deep, soulful flavor.  Make it as spicy as you want. Aunt John’s was really spicy; as spicy as she was I guess. I had to tone it down. If you really like jambalaya though, you’ll love this recipe.

      Ingredients:

      1 TBSP olive oil
      2 TSP salted butter
      1 lb chicken, white and dark meat cut in small chunks
      ½ lb sliced andouille sausage
      1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
      1 small onion, diced
      1 rib celery, diced
      1 bell pepper, diced
      1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
      3 cloves garlic, roasted and smashed
      6-8 roma tomatoes, diced
      1 16 oz. can tomato sauce
      1 cup chicken stock
      1 cup fish stock
      1 cup rice
      2 TBSP creole seasoning
      2 bay leaves
      1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
      1 TBSP hot sauce
      1 tsp salt
      ¼ tsp cayenne
      ½ tsp pepper
      parsley for garnish

      Heat 1 TBSP olive oil and 1 TBSP butter in hot heavy bottom pan or  dutch oven. Season chicken in 1 TBSP of creole seasoning and brown over medium high heat. Add andouille sausage and cook about 4-5 minutes  until browned. 

      Add to pan onions, celery, green pepper and roasted garlic and cook until transparent.

      Combine diced tomatoes, rice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, 1 TBSP creole seasoning, salt and pepper and stir.  Add fish stock, chicken stock, tomato paste and bay leaves. Bring pot to a boil, turn heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes.  

      Add shrimp and continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes or until rice is fully cooked.

      Garnish with parsley.

      For the Love of All Things Mardi Gras (Part One): Blue Crab Beignets
      Recipes

      For the Love of All Things Mardi Gras (Part One): Blue Crab Beignets

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      Mardi Gras is the best party in America and Louisiana is the home for Mardi Gras. It can be traced back to medieval times and it was first celebrated in the U.S. about 60 miles south of New Orleans on March 2 1699 (https://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/history/), 19 years before the city of New Orleans was even established.

      This year, Mardi Gras will be celebrated on February 25th, 2020. Mardi Gras actually means Fat Tuesday and reflects the end of Carnival that started January 6th, Epiphany. After days of celebration and parades, it is the last night of Carnival and is celebrated across the city and the state with extravagant balls and eating rich, fatty foods before the start of Ash Wednesday that starts the season of Lent.

      Here in Michigan, we celebrate Fat Tuesday by eating delicious, incredibly calorie-dense paczkis (400 – 500 calories). This is the Polish tradition of the last hurrah before giving up all the fatty, decadent foods and go into the Lenten season.

      While I would absolutely LOVE to run away to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras in the Garden District, don’t weep for me, I’ll be in Michigan eating paczkis.

      And, in honor of Mardi Gras too, we’re also going to don our Mardi Gras beads and masks and  treat ourselves to blue crab beignets and a few bourbon milk punch cocktails. This blue crab beignet recipe comes from Justin Devillier of La Petite Grocery in New Orleans and is featured on the Garden & Gun website.

        INGREDIENTS:

      1/2 small shallot, finely chopped
      6 oz. fresh blue crabmeat, picked over
      1/3 cup mascarpone
      1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives
      Kosher salt, to taste
      Vegetable oil for frying (about 4 cups, more if needed)
      1 cup all-purpose flour
      1/3 cup cornstarch
      1 tbsp. baking powder
      1/2 tsp. kosher salt, plus more
      1 cup amber lager

      When ready to fry, pour oil into a Dutch oven or saucepan fitted with a clip-on deep-fry thermometer to a depth of at least 3 inches. Heat oil over medium-high heat until temperature registers 375°.

      Meanwhile, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl. Gradually whisk in beer, just to blend (batter will be thick).

      Measure one heaping tbsp. crab mixture, roll into a ball, and drop into batter. Using a fork, toss to coat, then lift from batter, letting excess drip back into the bowl. Working in batches of about four and returning oil to 375° each time, carefully lower beignets into oil to avoid crowding. Fry, turning occasionally, until crisp and deep golden brown, about four minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and season with salt.

      Basic Creole Seasoning
      Recipes

      Basic Creole Seasoning

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      Creole seasoning is the cornerstone of most creole dishes.  There are countless iterations of creole seasoning. This seasoning very basic and can be adjusted it to your taste. This recipe is pretty tame when it comes to spice level. I like my Creole seasoning pretty spicy so I switch out the 3rd tablespoon of paprika with smoked paprika and add an additional teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

      Ingredients

      2 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
      2 tablespoons garlic powder
      1 tablespoon salt
      1 tablespoon onion powder
      1 tablespoon dried oregano
      1 tablespoon dried thyme
      1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
      1 tablespoon pepper
      1 tablespoon white pepper
      1 tablespoon dried basil
      1 teaspoon dried, ground lemon peel (optional)


      Mix all seasonings, herbs and spices.  Store in an airtight container for up to one year.

      Smoked Salmon Dip
      Recipes

      Smoked Salmon Dip

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      The best smoked salmon dip I’d ever had was at J. Alexander’s.  I haven’t been there in a very long time but, I remember how good it was and I was jonesing for some so I decided to make my own.  Here’s my own version of Smoked Salmon Dip. It’s a lot of stuff I know but, it’s all necessary if you want the slammingist Smoked Salmon Dip.

      Ingredients:

      ¼ TBSP liquid smoke
      1 Small scallion
      2 TBSP crushed capers
      2 TBSP Fresh dill weed
      1 TBSP Finely chopped parsley
      1 TBSP Lemon juice
      1 TBSP Lime juice
      2 TBSP Buttermilk
      1-½ tsp Spicy horseradish sauce
      1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
      1-½  tsp Cracked black peppercorns
      ½ tsp Sea salt
      ½ tsp Cayenne pepper
      ½ tsp Garlic powder
      ½ tsp Paprika
      1 Cup Sour cream
      ¼ Cup Mayonnaise
      16 oz. Cream cheese
      2 TBSP Parmesan (optional)
      2 lb Flaked salmon

      * Recipe can easily be halved.

      Mix all ingredients, chill in the refrigerator for about 3 hours. Garnish with dill and lemon wedges.  This serves about 16. This should definitely be your “go to” Smoked Salmon Dip recipe. If you do try it, post a comment and let me know what you think!

      The Feast of St. Valentine
      Recipes

      The Feast of St. Valentine

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      Is Valentine’s Day an awesome day or WHAT!? So, St. Valentine’s Day is the day we lose our minds about love. We buy candy. We buy cards. We buy flowers. We buy balloons and teddy bears and carriage rides and engagement rings. All for the ones we love and the ones we want to love us. And yes, we buy dinners. Lots and lots of dinners, and at some of the finest, fanciest, schmanciest restaurants, too.

      I love love and I love Valentine’s Day and I love to eat! It’s the perfect excuse, to sample a restaurant you’ve never tried that may be on the pricey side.

      Chocolate truffles? Yes, please!

      Still, I tend to fall on the more practical side of the scale on celebrations like Valentine’s Day. All of the pomp and circumstance that surrounds Valentine’s Day holds sentimental value for so many of us. Over the years, my husband and I have laid down  the equivalent of a mortgage down payment at the altar of St. Valentine.

      These days my practical, pragmatic me would scream bloody murder if I even entertained for one second the idea of spending $70 for a box of chocolates (yep, that’s a thing, y’all) or thought for a minute my husband couldn’t live without a $50.00 miniature teddy bear to tell him that I love him. With all that love floating around in the ether on Valentine’s Day, we can lose all sense of ourselves and do some pretty impulsive (er, expensive) things.

      Now practical me tells me “you can celebrate Valentine’s Day honey, but you can’t mortgage the house to do it.”  So, I cook a fabulous meal with all the bells and whistles I already have in my kitchen. The romantic me says cooking a fabulous meal at home is far more warm and fuzzy than sitting in a restaurant full of strangers or settling on some low-budget joint just for the sake of saying we went to dinner for Valentine’s Day. Practical me says, “Yay!”

      Dude, you can miss me with that arrow this year!
      For real, dude. You can miss me with that arrow this year!

      I know, I know. “I want to go out!  I eat at home all the time, what’s so special in doing that?”  you whine. Well baby, it’s all about being creative and thinking beyond the everyday. You make it special.  Bring out the good stuff you know, the china you think you’re only allowed to eat on at Christmas. Set the table. Buy some candles. Dim the lights. Hell, create a tent on the living room floor and cosplay – the harem of one serves the sultan his meal and maybe dance for him during drinks and desserts (bet you can’t do that at Morton’s Steak House!). Amazingly, celebrating the day doesn’t have to be complicated or it can be as complicated as you want.  This is your thing. 

      To give you a leg up, here’s a sexy meal that leans heavily on Italian cuisine (Italian food is so romantic). Take a couple of days to do all the prep work you need to do in order to roll out the perfect Valentine’s Day dinner without breaking a sweat (Mise en place… We’ll talk) . Because the last thing you want to be is too tired to enjoy after-dinner festivities, amiright?

      Enjoy the day and the evening. Enjoy your partner, a good meal and drinks! Happy Valentine’s Day!

      Menu

      Bruschutta
      Pasta e Fagioli
      Roasted Pork Loin with Brown Butter Lemon Caper Sauce
      Duchess Potatoes

      Bruschetta

      1 small garlic bulb
      Campari or cherry tomatoes, sliced
      Fresh basil
      Scallion
      Olive oil
      French baguette
      Mozzarella cheese
      Salt

      Cut off the top of the garlic bulb.  Place garlic, cut side down on an oiled pan.  Roast in a 450-degree oven for about 8-10 minutes. Let cool. 

      Slice baguette in about 1-½” wide slices, on the bias and toast in oven until lightly browned.  Drizzle bread slices lightly with olive oil and rub roasted garlic bulb across each slice.

      Place cheese on toasted bread and top with sliced tomatoes and fresh basil.  Lightly drizzle with olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes on 350 degrees.

      Pasta e Fagioli

      2 TBSP Olive oil
      1 Spicy Italian sausage
      1 16 oz. can or pkg dried cannelloni beans, cooked
      4 Cups vegetable stock
      1 Small onion
      1 Small carrot
      1 Rib celery
      2 Cloves garlic
      16 oz. Can crushed tomatoes
      1 Cup ditalini noodles
      2 TBSP – Reggiano or Parmesan  cheese
      2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
      3-4 sprigs of fresh Thyme
      ½ tsp dried Oregano
      1 large dried bay leaf
      Salt
      Pepper

      Soak beans overnight following instructions on bag.  Cook cannellini beans. 

      If sausage is in a casing, remove casing and crumble. Heat a deep pot over medium high heat and add oil and sausage.  Brown the sausage, add herbs, bay leaf, chopped vegetables, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. 

      Drain and add beans, tomato sauce, water, and stock to pot.  Raise heat to high and bring soup to a rapid boil and add pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Rosemary and thyme leaves will separate from stems as soup cooks. 

      Remove herb stems and bay leaf from soup. Let soup cool for a few minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and top with grated cheese. 

      Roasted Pork Loin with Brown Butter Lemon Caper Sauce

      3 lb Pork loin
      1 TBSP Olive Oil
      1 tsp Garlic powder
      1 TBSP Rosemary,
      1 tsp ground thyme
      1-½ tsp pepper
      1  tsp salt or to taste

      Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

      Wash and dry pork loin.  Slice off the silver skin. If loin is too fatty, slice off some of the fat on top (fat cap) and let meat come to room temperature.  

      Grind spices in spice grinder until rosemary is minced well. Rub olive oil all over pork loin.  Cover pork loin completely with seasoning mix.

      Optional:  With kitchen twine, cut about 5 strings long enough to wrap and tie along the length of the loin to keep its’ shape during cooking.

      Place pork loin on a pan with a rack and put in heated oven. Loin should take 20 minutes per pound to cook.  With a meat thermometer, test doneness. Meat is done when it reaches 145 degrees. 

      Take pork loin out of oven, wrap loosely with foil and let it rest for at least 5 minutes to let juices redistribute. Remove kitchen twine (if used). Slice pork loin in 2-inch slices.

      Brown Butter Lemon Caper Sauce

      1 tsp unsalted butter + 2TBSP butter, softened
      1 TSPB crushed capers
      1 tsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
      3 TBSP fresh lemon juice
      Coarse ground black pepper

      Heat 1 tsp of butter in saucepan until golden brown. Do not burn! Add crushed capers into butter and saute for about 1 minute letting moisture from capers evaporate.  

      Once the capers begin to brown, stir in tarragon to incorporate then pour in lemon juice. Cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes to let sauce reduce. 

      Take off the heat and  stir in the remaining butter and let it melt.

      Duchess Potatoes

      2½ lbs Potatoes, Yukon gold
      4 TBSP Butter, room temperature
      3 Egg yolks
      2 TBSP chopped chives
      1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
      Black pepper to taste
      Salt to taste
      Parsley for garnish

       Peel and cut potatoes into chunks. Place in a large pot, cover fully with cold water, add 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil. simmer until tender, about 30 minutes.

       Preheat oven to 400F.

      Drain and let the potatoes to dry few minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mash, add butter and stir until incorporated. Add egg yolks and stir until smooth. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and chives.

      Transfer the mashed potato into a piping bag fitted with a wide star tip. Pipe mashed potato mixture in a mound onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

      Bake for 150-20 minutes, until golden brown.

      Note: When adding egg yolks be sure that the potato mixture is not too hot, otherwise the egg yolks will cook.