My 2010 in a few pics

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It's Christmas Time = POTICA Time!!

What is Potica???

Mom tells me the recipe she has followed for over 50+ years is Croatian derived. 

sticky sticky dough

The sweet dough is spread so thin you could read a newspaper through it.  

The filling consists of walnuts, graham cracker, honey, egg and milk. 

The rolling of the dough is very tricky, generally rolled out on a sheet.. she grabs the edge of the sheet lifts and it starts to roll. 

Once rolled,ends are tucked and it gets transferred to a cookie sheet and shaped into a slight "C". 

When the Potica is baked and pulled from the oven, she brushes butter on top of the warm bread. For me, it has been one of the constants of Christmas. I can't remember a time when it hasn't been on the table. Along with nutbread. She used to use a meat grinder attached to the table to grind all of the nuts and graham crackers, which now is done by the Cuisinart Food Processor.

 Mom grew up in Hibbing, MN, an Iron range town which has a recognizably Italian, Slavic, and Scandinavian heritage. Much of my favorite dishes she has handed down have these cultural accents to them.

POTICA

Bread recipe:

5 to 6 cups flour

1 Cup Milk, scalded (heat on low until milk is scalded)

3/4 Cup lukewarm water

3 packets yeast (small)

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. salt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup butter, melted

Sprinkle yeast into water and add a pinch of salt; stir with a wooden spoon until dissolved.  5 - 10 min until it bubbles.  Combine lukewarm milk, salt and sugar in a large bowl, add yeast mixture, melted butter and eggs.  Mix with wooden spoon.  Add 1/2 of the flour - mix well, slowly.  Add rest of flour.  Kneed dough until heavy and sticky.  Cover and let rise for 1/2 hour. (Make filling while dough is rising)  Sprinkle flour on a table cloth.  Put sleeve on rolling pin and sprinkle lots of flour on it.  Divide dough into 4 parts.  Roll out dough until very thin.  Go slowly, this is the hardest part!!

Filling:

2 lbs walnuts, coarsely ground 

12-14 graham crackers, finely crushed

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup honey

2 eggs

1 Tbl butter

1 Cup milk

3/4 Cup sugar

Mix everything together, should be very thick.  Divide into 4 parts.  Spread onto rolled out dough up to the edges. (Be very careful, this is where you could rip the dough) Grasp edge of table cloth and lift (watch video for directions) doing this will roll up your dough and filling very easily and evenly.  Very carefully, transfer to a cookie sheet, bend the roll into a shape that will fit on the cookie sheet.  It will look like a big smile shape.  Tuck the ends of the roll in.  Bake at 300° for 1 hour, check often.  Take out when brown. Brush immediately with butter.  When cooled, wrap in foil and let sit two days or three... the flavors will be wonderfully married. Or cut and eat with a glop of butter and enjoy!

Roasted Chestnut Russian Teacake Cookie

Scored chestnuts before being roasted for ease of peeling

♪♫ CHESTNUTS ROASTING ON AN OPEN FIRE

JACK FROST NIPPING AT YOUR NOSE ♫ ♪

Every Christmas I sing those two lines from that song... because that's all I know. But, it brings to mind a big fire in a fireplace with a nice family roasting them and then laughing, singing and eating them.  Yes, I'm a fan of old movies with unrealistically happy families. The girls in their dresses with perfect hair and ribbons, the boys in their little outfits and slicked down combed hair.  LOL!!

Roasted and peeled chestnuts

I have ALWAYS wondered what roasted chestnuts taste like.  When I was in NYC for my 40th birthday in February, it was cold, there was snow on the ground and vendors were selling them on the streets.  I regret never having bought a little bag of those nuts.

Chopped roasted chestnuts tossed into food processor

One of my favorite food blogs, http://smittenkitchen.com/  Smitten Kitchen, had posted a roasted chestnut cookie recipe last week. She commented on how incredibly difficult it is to find chestnuts in the grocery store. I thought it looked like an awesome twist on my favorite Christmas cookie the Russian Teacake, but I let it go thinking I'd never find these nuts in the store.

Bake me baby!!

While at CUB, our local grocery store, stocking up on food before our big blizzard came, I was walking through the produce section and saw a big basket of chestnuts.  I was much more excited than a normal person should have been and I think I embarrassed Parker, my son, when I whooped out loud.  I grabbed a bag quickly as if I discovered gold and was SURE someone was going to snatch those nuts up before I had a chance to fill up my bag!

Its hard to tell when your cookies are done, the bottoms should be nice a brown.

I filled up that bag full of nuts and if Parker didn't pull me away I would have taken all of them.  I was very excited to make my cookies.  My son didn't share the same excitement as I did. Imagine that out of a 13 year old!

Powdered sugar to roll your cookies in with a bit of cinnamon

When you live in Minnesota, you know that you eventually will be hit with a blizzard.  Today should have been a day spent in the gym watching boys basketball.  It being canceled due to the big snowmagedan, it turned into a cooking day!

Roll those gems in the wonderful world of powdered sugar

I now understand why the Smitten Kitchen blog author is so in love with chestnuts.  The smell of those nuts roasting in the oven and the sweet nutty taste made them the perfect nut to compliment the powdered sugar topping. Wow.

You pop one of these in your mouth and they just melt.  One has to be very careful though... they are filled with butter! You will get a tummy ache if you eat too many. I say this as I type and I have a tummy ache that I'm nursing.

The expression on my Mom's face as she is devouring her cookie says it all

So enjoy the recipe! I challenge you to find chestnuts in a store near you and roast 'em, grind 'em and make them into these fab Russian Teacake Cookies! You will not regret a single mouth melting moment. 
(recipe from Smitten Kitchen)
Roasted Chestnut Cookies

Start with a whole pound of chestnuts, although you’ll only need about 2/3 of them, because chestnuts are notorious for surprising you, once roasted, with rotten centers. If you’ve got a winning batch (as I did), you get a little to snack on and everyone wins.
Makes about 4 dozen 1-inch cookies
1 pound chestnuts
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon + additional for coating
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 450°F. Cut a small X on the top of each chestnut with a very sharp knife. Don’t be afraid to cut into the “meat” of the chestnut a little; I found that the the ones that were the most easy to peel start with a deep enough cut that the skin peels back while roasting. Roast chestnuts on a baking sheet for about 20 to 30 minutes, until a darker shade of brown and the X peels back to reveal the inner nut.

Cool on tray and then peel. Don’t worry if they break up as you do so if you have to dig them out in pieces, you won’t need whole ones for this.

Once the peeled chestnuts are fully cool, chop them coarsely on a cutting board. Measure 1 cup of chopped chestnuts, and dump them in the bowl of a food processor. Grind them until they are very well chopped, then add the softened butter, and pulse again until combined. Add 1/2 cup of your powdered sugar, vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and flour and pulse until an even dough is formed.

[No food processor? Chop-chop-chop those chestnuts as fine as you can, then use an electric mixer to whip the butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Add the vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, flour and chestnuts and beat until well blended.]

Divide dough and wrap each half in plastic, chilling for one hour or until firm. Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and a few pinches of cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside. Working with one half of the chilled dough at at time, roll it into 2 teaspoon-sized balls (I use my 1 tablespoon measure, but didn’t fill it) in the palm of your hand. Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheet but no need to leave more than 1/2 inch between the cookies; they won’t spread.

Bake cookies until golden brown on bottom and just pale golden on top, about 14 to 17 minutes. (See Note up top about baking times.) Cool cookies 5 minutes on baking sheet. Gently toss warm cookies in cinnamon sugar to coat completely. Transfer coated cookies to rack and cool completely. Repeat procedure with remaining half of dough. To touch them up before serving, you can sift some of the leftover cinnamon-sugar mixture over them.

Do ahead: Dough can be chilled in the fridge for a day or two, longer in the freezer. Chestnuts can be roasted in advance, kept at room temperature for a day or so. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for a week.

Baked Pumpkin Seeds

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Halloween = Carving Pumpkins = Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Sometimes I wonder why we even bother to do the "seed thing" on Halloween when carving pumpkins. I mean seriously, is this the most tedious, gross, slimy, sticky, gooey task??? It takes forever to separate those lil fellas from the gunky orange goo insides of Mr. Jack.  I think I have found the trick to making the final treat bearable.  A big glass of wonderful red wine.  Oh yes :) It's the perfect compliment :)

The next step is to gather all of the slimy seeds up and place them in a bowl to do the first rinse off. Dump it all into a large bowl and fill it up with tepid water. Pick out any stringy stuff and chunks of flesh left behind from Mr. Jack. 



I do believe I see a chunk o pumpkin that needs to be removed!

Next... pour the seeds into a colander and drain.  Turn on your faucet to give the guys another shower for the final rinse off.

ahhhhhh

After the final rinse, unload the seeds onto paper towels or a kitchen towel to dry.

At this point you can do one of two things.

1. Fill a bowl with about 1 cup of very warm water and add 1/4 cup of salt. Make sure the salt is completely dissolved.  Once salt has dissolved, add another cup of cold water.  Then finally add the seeds.  You will want the seeds to sit in this salt water over night so the seeds can be infused with the slight flavor of salt.  Then rinse and pour out on cloth to dry.
2. If you skip this step or do it, once the seeds have been dried... put the seeds in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and throw some salt in. The salt amount is your choice. This is also the time you can add spices other than salt... garlic, cinnamon/sugar, Tabasco sauce, chili powder.  If you do this.. you need to split up your seeds and do separate bowls for each flavor of seeds. 

I had enough seeds to make 3 batches.  Which I did, but I kept it simple and just did salt and olive oil!  Plenty good!!



The seeds are in a salt water bath

Place the cookie sheets that are filled with oiled, salted, herbed, sugared seeds into a preheated 300° oven. It will take anywhere between 30 - 45 mn.  You need to stir up the seeds every 10 mn for an even cooked seed.  Keep watching!! Once they turn a nice brown color they can be pulled. You can test it by pulling a seed or two from the oven and giving it a try. They will be HOT... wait a couple of minutes. Its hard to do, but you must!! You know you have kept them in the oven too long when you hear popping, your seeds are turning into pumpkin popping snacks. Not good!

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently had a request from a niece of mine, Lauren, first time away at college attending Boston University to PLEASE send her a care package. It became a bigger pull when her roommate Meredith tagged me in a facebook post pleading to send it out to them! In addition there are two nieces, Lindsey & Beth, attending ASU in Tempe, AZ that were craving MN items such as Old Dutch Potato Chips. What??? They don't sell Old Dutch in AZ??? Okay... I get it. They were a bit homesick, yes?

(Yes, Ryan and Alex... I still plan on getting cookies to you too!)

Besides the Old Dutch potato Chips (which they got btw) what other treat could I send that would satisfy the "taste of home" cravings??? 



That's right... Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

Probably the first time I burned my finger on a sweet yummy goody had to have been when I was a kid on the ooey gooey melted chocolate. This happened when I was trying to pick up a chocolate chip cookie as it was cooling off after being taken right from the oven. Mom would make dozens of cookies for us kids. Being that there were six of us kids and a dad who was a 6' 2" sweet tooth.  For her to follow the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip bag wouldn't cut it. She had to quadruple the recipe!!

Of course... she also didn't use cookie racks to cool them off... she used paper grocery bags ripped and laid out on the table. How clever was she? It also soaked up the excess fat from the cookies as well. Clearly I can see those greasy circular cookie marks on the paper bags after the cookies were eaten and put away.  I would eat just enough to get sick to my stomach. Too much of a good thing and all.... I still am that way with these cookies.

I have no other love affair with a cookie like I do the Nestle Toll House Chip Cookies.  Not to mention that it HAS to be the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip bag.  And using butter. Margarine... really???? YUCK.  I made it even naughtier back when I was a kid by using have lard and half butter.

They really are comfort food, like peanut butter or mashed potatoes and gravy. Nothing that brings me back home than eating that ooey gooey Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven.


Mix those sugars and butter really really well!!



I think part of the trick is to mix up the sugars/butter
with the eggs long enough so that it is seriously light and fluffy.



I also firmly believe that the baker gets to taste test.



Busted... my 13 year old sneaking cookie dough!!




Droplets of Deliciousness



I use a rack to cool.
But now that I've reminded myself of the paper bag trick...

And now the recipe:

The real, the original, the authentic Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated [white] sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLE TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

• COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
• BAKE in preheated 375-degree [Fahrenheit] oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
• PAN COOKIE VARIATION: PREPARE dough as above. Spread into greased 15"x10" jelly-roll pan. Bake in preheated 375-degree [Fahrenheit] oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.

This info is for you Heather:
FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (>5,200 feet): INCREASE flour to 2 1/2 cups; add 2 teaspoonfuls water with flour; reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookies for 17 to 19 minutes.

Apple and Cheddar Scones

Yah... try and stop at one of these... not possible!

I DON'T BAKE!!! Really I don't! Here's why... because most times I fail miserably.  If you have ever known a baker, a true blue baker, they will always tell you that baking requires precision measurements. That is not a requirement for a person who cooks.  We always go by instinct, a pinch of this, a dab of that, eyeball measurements. I can do that. Even when I do bake and have precision measurements, its about a 50-50 chance that my baked goods will turn out.

I have yet to perfect bread, never ever made a loaf that turned out.  Brownies? Forget about it.  Cookies I can do, but only because I've made them since I was a little girl and I know a few tricks. Too much butter... they are flat, too much flour... they are hard and round. Scary smell? Whoops, I forgot they were in the oven and now I have charcoal to use for grilling!

I see this wonderful scone recipe that sister Gretchen posted on facebook from the Smitten Kitchen blog and read the ingredients.  I have every ingredient, even down to aged sharp white cheddar cheese (that I enjoyed with wine and crackers the day before) and tart apples. It was fate. Yes, the recipe was calling me. The inner baker that has failed so many previous times before was tempted once again to give it a try.

Peel and core the apple

Cut each apple into 16 chunks lay out in single layer for roasting

Roasted apples

Grated Aged Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
So hard not to eat this while shredding

Mix until all ingredients are pulled together
I have learned "DON'T OVER MIX"!!

Cut into 6 triangles

Gotta space these bad boys 2" apart

SAVORY!!!

Darrel just ate one and first said "I thought you couldn't bake!" they were "very very very very good"  his opinion was they were light and fluffy and the flavor of apple and cheddar worked very well together. The cheddar is very light and the apple complimented the cheddar.  It had a nice butter taste in the background.  He said the combo that we had with our wine of the same cheddar cheese used in this recipe and honey crisp apples with crackers were a completely different experience than those same apple/cheese in the scone.  Last night it was more the flavor of the sharp cheddar with the apple chaser, today it was apple that hit the taste buds first with a slight hint of cheddar following. 

I love having Darrel describe my cooking because he enjoys eating soooo much, and he describes every nuance of his experience of food on his tongue.  I've never seen anyone savor food and drink (other than Gretchen's husband Jim) like Darrel.  It's almost mesmerising!

I would say that indeed... I succeeded in my baking today.  I know I can do cookies and scones. 

And now for the recipe:

Apple and Cheddar Scones

Barely tweaked from The Perfect Finish
Makes 6 generous scones

2 firm tart apples (1 pound or 254 grams) - I used Granny Smith
1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces or 195 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar plus 1 1/2 tablespoons for sprinkling (total of 2.2 ounces or 63 grams)
1/2 tablespoon (7 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (3 grams) plus additional for egg wash
6 tablespoons (3 ounces or 85 grams)unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes plus additional for baking sheet if not lining it with parchment
1/2 cup (2.25 ounces or 65 grams) sharp cheddar, shredded (white is recommended, I assume for aesthetics)
1/4 cup (2 ounces) heavy cream
2 large eggs

Position a rack at the center of oven and preheat oven to 375 °F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Peel and core apples, then cut them into one-sixteenths. (I assumed this meant chunks, not slivers.) Placed them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake them until they take on a little color and feel dry to the touch, about 20 minutes. They will be about half-baked. Let them cool completely. (You can speed this up in the freezer, as I did.) Leave oven on.

Sift or whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Set aside. Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, along with cooled apple chunks, cheese, cream and one egg. Sprinkle flour mixture over the top and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together. Do not over mix.

[Don't have a stand or hand mixer? I'd rub the cold butter into the flour mixture with my fingertips or with a pastry blender, hand-chop the apples coarsely and mix the rest together with a wooden spoon until combined. It might feel awkward, but it should all come together. Again, don't over mix it though it will be harder to do this by hand.]

Generously flour your counter top and place the scone dough on top of it. Sprinkle with flour. Use a rolling pin to gently roll (or use your hands to pat) the dough into a 1 1/4-inch thick, 6-inch circle. Cut circle into 6 wedges. Transfer them to a baking sheet that has either been buttered or lined with a fresh sheet of parchment paper. Leave at least 2 inches between each scone.

Beat remaining egg in a small bowl with a pinch of salt. Brush the scones with egg wash and sprinkle them with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake until firm and golden, about 30 minutes. With a spatula, lift them to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Before you eat one, make sure you realize how addictive they might be. Once you’ve got that down, go for it anyway.

Do ahead: Scones are best the day they are baked. However, they can be made ahead of time and stored unbaked in the freezer until you need them. Simply brush them with the egg wash and sprinkle them with sugar, and bake them still frozen for just a couple extra minutes. This way they are always freshly baked when you want them. These scones were passable on day two and terrible on day three.

FALL = SQUASH!!!



Squash! This is decorative squash :)

 To be honest... squash scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.  My mom was always cooking up strange things that other Moms didn't cook up.  Yes, as an adult I have come to appreciate the fact that I had a highly intelligent mother who was relegated into the kitchen to feed and care for 8 people!! Daily!! No wonder she went through that bout of depression and the hair pulling yelling stints. Oh wait, I digress.

Decorative Pumpkins - I have never seen so many varieties!

One of the items she cooked a lot in the fall was some variety of squash. Give me my potatoes, baked, mashed, boiled... I don't care. But serve me up something that has the inside texture of a potato but doesn't look like a potato??? NO WAY. I don't want any yellow, orange, orangish-yellowish looking thing on my plate. And don't think you can disguise it in butter and brown sugar either. I still know what is under it.

Oh what a fool that young tongue was!!!!

More decorative Pumpkins

Squash is amazing.  It defines fall.  We can even hang onto the colors of fall through our squash after fall has fallen and that white stuff is on the earth.  Squash can last in your storage bin from a month to several months.  You can load up on squash at a farmers market in one haul and you are set for the winter months. You almost feel kind of pioneer like... kinda.

Peanut Pumpkin
yes!!
 It grows with these things that look like peanuts on it!

The flavor of squash and the many ways squash can be cooked is a bonus too. From soups to desserts. Oh yes. My niece Alex has a cupcake she makes with squash.  Here is the link to Alex's Brown Sugar Acorn Squash Cupcakes http://alphabitchkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/brown-sugar-acorn-squash-cupcakes.html  My sister Geri and her daughters have made squash soup! Fabulous.  Roast some squash and throw small chunks in your salad along with dried cranberries a little feta cheese and make a vinaigrette dressing with the raspberry vinegar like I bought at the little pumpkin/gourd/squash place and its almost a supper! Of course... the ultimate way to cook squash is the most simple way... cut in half, scoop out the guts... bake it naked or add butter and brown sugar.  It even comes with its own serving dish!

Mom and I are attempting this year is to purchase some squash that we have seen at the grocery store or farmers markets but have no idea what they are and have frightened us away from buying it.  So, while we were at Knapton's Farm in Greenfield, MN yesterday, we were faced with a huge flatbed full of many many varieties of squash that we knew and also had no clue as to what they were. 

We both decided to pick one variety each that we didn't know.  I was drawn to this long skinny squash that was pale and striped green.  Later, I found out that it was called "Sweet Potato Squash"  also known as "Delicato Squash"  Apparently the flavor is what the name implies.  It's a nice sweet tasting squash with a similar taste to sweet potatoes. Some even eat the skin because it is so thin. I won't!

So... the experiment begins at supper time when the preparation starts... I'll be back with more pictures and the final cooked product.

I had to prepare my Sweet Potato squash as suggested and it was fairly simple. Much easier cutting through the skin of this squash as compared to Spaghetti squash. That squash you feel like taking out an axe to cut through the skin!

I like to scoop the seeds and guts out with an ice cream scooper. The edge of a scooper is sharper than a spoon.

I placed the squash on my clay baker and put it in a 350° oven for about 45-60 mn.

So, Parker - my son, had a football game and it interrupted me from enjoying my supper in a leisurely fashion! Yes, because that's what parents of active 13 year old boys do... life of leisure! right.  Anyhow, I managed to scarf down my Sweet Potato Squash before I left. Oh was it savory!

Butter... salt and pepper.

Sister Gretchen's Tuna Salad

What makes my sister Gretchen's tuna salad so good?? I have NO idea. But, it is sooo good!  Maybe it is connected with my memories of Maine.  The times the tuna salad has been made is usually connected with a boat ride, an island and some lobster. Hmmm.... good triggers no?? 

With her permission, I'm sharing this recipe. It's fabulous!

Gretchen's Tuna Salad
‎1 lb small elbow macaroni pasta.. I try to get rainbow pasta(spinach,tomato and reg)

1 Tbs olive oil
2 lrg cans white tuna drained and flaked
5 hard boiled eggs roughly chopped
1 or more cups of frozen peas (we like alot of peas)
1 jar mayo (1 QT)
1 small onion finely minced (I just use the food processer)
1 Tbs yellow ball park mustard
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dried dill
salt and pepper to taste

• Cook pasta and drain over frozen peas in a colonder... add olive oil when cool enough so the pasta doesn't absorb the mayo and get dry.
• Mix mayo,onion,vinegar,mustard,cayenne pepper,dill and s&p in a seperate bowl
• In a LARGE mixing bowl put in your tuna,peas,eggs and pasta
• Add your mayo mixture and lightly stir till all is combined

Gretchen's note: We always eat this with rippled potato chips... I usually don't even use a fork... just scoop it up with the chip.  Favorite summer salad!