Baked Ziti

Baked ziti is always well received for a potluck. In this case it was for the School Site Council meeting tonight. Served with a nice salad & Italian dressing.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ziti pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef (optional)
  
• 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
• 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced (1/4 lb)
  
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 6 ounces low fat mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350º. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.

One Hour Dinner Rolls

This is the first time I made dinner rolls and they were well worth the minimal effort!
Perfect accompaniment to another freezer staple, chicken soup.
I normally don't even buy rolls since I tend to be against excessive carbs but hey- it's that time of year.
Crispy on the outside, warm and tender on the inside... Butter up the steamy interior with your favorite salted butter. I prefer Kate's.
Leftovers were portioned off into freezer bags. They can be reheated in the oven in a cinch.

1 cup wheat flour
3 1/4 cups or more unbleached flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp yeast ("pizza yeast") (or 2 packets of Fleischman's pizza yeast)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup butter

Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar and yeast in a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Heat milk, water, and butter until very warm: 120-130º. It took two minutes in the microwave. Add warm liquid to dry ingredients and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes (start slow then raise to medium so there's no splash over). Stop mixer and add 1/4 cup flour and 1 tsp salt. Mix for two more minutes on medium. Continue adding the rest of the flour until dough comes together. Switch to a dough hook and knead in your mixer for 2-3 minutes. Place in greased bowl and let rise for 15 minutes. Punch down. Use a knife to divide dough into 20-24 balls and place on baking sheet. Cover and let rise 15 minutes.
Brush with melted butter.
Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes, until tops are lightly browned. Make sure to check a couple times after 20 minutes.

Trader Josef's Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake (with Apples)

Not bad for from a box! Love Trader Joe's.
I incorporated apples by dicing two up and sauteing them in a tablespoon of butter, adding 2 Tb sugar and a dash of cinnamon. This helps remove excess moisture and cook them up a bit since they won't cook that much more when they bake.

The taster is definitely a fan!

Gingerbread Cookies

These are a special holiday treat!
One year I made them for a holiday party and many wanted the recipe. The secret ingredient, I think, is pepper!
Like most cookie doughs, you can make it and freeze then cut out and thaw portions to make smaller batches.
The first batch was used in Andrew's lunch and he ate all 4 cookies right up! There was a complaint that not all of them had raisins (note to self).
I would have done a better job decorating but it was late and I didn't make my own frosting.
I've included a good recipe below (which is also good for sugar cookies and adding dye to).
Make sure your spices aren't years old and if they are, do a smell check. They should be potent or else your cookies will suffer from being less than stellar!

In a medium bowl stir together flours, cinnamon, ginger, soda, nutmeg, salt, pepper and cloves.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat 1 cup of softened butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add 1 cup of sugar, beat until fluffy.
Beat in an egg until mixture is light.
On low speed beat in 1/2 cup molasses and 2 TB lemon juice.
Beat in 1/2 then slowly all of the flour mixture.
Divide the dough in half, cover and chill at least 3 hours or until easy to handle.

On a floured surface, roll half of dough at a time to 1/8" thickness. Cut out with your favorite cookie cutters.
Place cutouts 1/2" apart on an ungreased baking sheet. I used nonstick foil in the toaster oven.

Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

I decorated with Cake Mate white icing from a tube. It hardened. More preferable is the following recipe for Royal Icing.
You can simply put it in a zip top bag and snip a small corner off it.

"Royal icing is the icing of choice for decorating cookies....It hardens when it dries so decorations stay in place. This is a basic recipe for white icing, but you could add food coloring to make it any shade you please."

For a looser icing, add lemon juice by the 1/2 teaspoon until desired consistency.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups powdered sugar (1 [1-pound] box)
• 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
• 5 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed, stopping to scrape down the bowl, until glossy and stiff, about 5 minutes.
2. Fill a piping bag or a resealable plastic bag with one corner snipped off and use to decorate cookies. (If not using immediately, place a piece of waxed paper on the surface, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use. Stir before using.)

Lemon, Thyme and Garlic Roast Chicken Draped with Bacon

Cooking bacon over chicken of course makes it better! My gravy suffered since the smoke alarms were set off as the bottoms of the lemons and the garlic burned. I was able to rescue the dish but it does need monitoring (especially in an antique oven).

The chicken was moist and flavorful but you are better off spending more money on a more quality kosher thus brined chicken (Empire) than an .88/lb fatty Perdue.

This recipe is courtesy of Ina Garten.

• 1 (5 to 6-pound) roasting chicken
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme
• 4 lemons
• 3 heads garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 pound sliced bacon
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the thyme, reserving enough thyme to garnish the chicken dish, 1 lemon, halved, and 2 halves of the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Cut 2 of the lemons in quarters and scatter the quarters and remaining garlic around the chicken. Lay the bacon slices over the chicken to cover.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour. Remove the bacon slices from the top of the chicken and set aside. Continue roasting the chicken for an additional 1/2 hour, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove to a platter and cover with aluminum foil while you prepare the gravy.

Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the bottom of the pan. Add the wine and chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until reduced by half.

Slice the chicken on a platter. Garnish the chicken platter with the bacon slices, roasted garlic, reserved thyme and 1 lemon, sliced. Serve with the gravy.

Apple-Onion Tarts

I discovered this recipe while browsing apple recipes on Martha Stewart's website.
Reading comments on recipes are usually helpful and this boisterous review gave me a chuckle, I knew it had to be good:

"Okay, first this: this is really delicious. Secondly, editors, please listen:
THIS IS NOT EVERYDAY FOOD!!!! This is food for when your vegetarian gay boss and his husband come for dinner and you really want to impress them. This is a very labor-intensive recipe. I feel like I was flimflammed by this recipe. I started cooking about 5 pm and didn't serve dinner until freakin' EIGHT PM!!!
I will make it again on a weekend night when I have plenty of time. Jesus."

On this advice, I took a more casual approach and made it over two days, serving at the school pot-luck tonight (always a great testing ground). My recipe is slightly different than the original.

The taster had rave reviews for this one, he requested 3 of them in his school lunch tomorrow! Dad loved them too. We discussed the many possibilities for future tart-making, can't wait to explore them! Good thing, Martha has a tart book which I put on hold at the local library.


Save yourself a day of cooking and make the dough and onion-apple tart filling ahead of time.

It still took me a couple hours to roll out the dough, cut, assemble, crimp and bake them.
The original recipe calls for making 6, 7" rounds. That would be easier but I think this recipe is so rich and savory, they should be made smaller.
I used a 3" heart-shaped cookie cutter instead. The dough didn't stay crimped well after baking. This was apparent after the first 10 minutes. In a rush, I skipped putting them back in the fridge for 30 min before baking. Would this have helped? Not sure. I do like the smaller sizes I made. Perfect appetizer portions. I'd like to buy a pan which holds multiple small tarts for this purpose. Or else, continue using a cookie cutter, which it just fine. Recipe made around 36.

Rosemary-Manchego Tart Dough

Ingredients:

• 3 small parsnips (about 4 ounces), peeled
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup finely grated manchego cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup ice water

Directions

1. Finely grate parsnips (you will need 1/2 cup). Place on a clean kitchen towel (do not use paper towels), and squeeze to extract as much liquid as possible.
2. Pulse parsnip, flour, salt, sugar, pepper, butter, cheese, and rosemary in a food processor. Add yolk, and pulse to combine. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream, processing until dough just comes together (no longer than 15 seconds). Shape into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 3 medium Gala apples, peeled, cored, halved, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 8 medium yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 cup coarsely grated manchego cheese (2 to 3 ounces)
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Heat oil and butter in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add apples and onions, and cook until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until very soft and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Make sure to scrape up the brown on the bottom and stir occasionally. Add vinegar and salt, and cook 5 minutes. Let cool.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a generous 1/8 inch thick. I divided the dough into 4 sections when rolling it out. Cut out your desired shape rounds, gathering scraps and rolling dough again if needed. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets.
3. Puree half the apple-onion mixture in a food processor until smooth.
   
4. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of apple-onion puree over each dough round, leaving a 1-inch border around edges. Sprinkle each with cheese. Season with pepper. Top each with remaining apple-onion mixture, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Fold edges of dough in, crimping with your fingers. Refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Bake until edges are golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve tarts warm or at room temperature.

Easy Cocktail Meatballs

These were the first thing to go at the pot-luck party tonight, everyone loved them!
Thank you to my sister Wendy for recommending that I try them! I have made them with grape jelly before, but this recipe using cranberry sauce is the best. Since lemons are so expensive (.89 for 1), I used store-brand lemon juice in a bottle. This juice is also undetectably useful in hollandaise sauce.

2 lb frozen meatballs (Ikea's Swedish meatballs)
1 16oz can cranberry sauce
1 12oz jar chili sauce
2 Tb brown sugar
3 tsp lemon juice

Cook the meatballs according to package instructions (450º for 15 minutes).Meanwhile, pour the sauce ingredients into the crock pot set on high. Break up the cranberry sauce.
Add the meatballs, stir to cover with sauce and cook on high for 2 hours.
This photo was taken just after the meatballs were added. The sauce breaks down and they shrink a bit once they've been cooked in the pot for a couple hours. YUM! Use a large serving spoon or fancy picks to serve them.