January Daring Bakers: Biscuits with Audax

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

I've always wanted Audax Artifex to host a Daring Bakers challenge.  I've always fantasized about what he'd challenge us to bake.

Well this month I discovered the steamy answer to my fantasy.....

Biscuits. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful biscuits. 

The best part of the challenge was Audax, of course. 

Second best part was seeing all the rainbows in the steam and (barely) managing to catch them on the camera.  Chirp-chirp held the biscuits, steaming hot, up in front of the window as the sun was setting.  At first I didn't believe her about the rainbows, but there they were!  Go back and look for yourself.  Rainbows!

Third best part was tasting a new, simple, easy base for tonight's chicken divan.  I usually serve this with rice or potatoes.  This year, due to our bumper crop of Yukon Golds from the garden, it's almost always been served on taters. 

Fourth best part, or maybe a second first best part, is looking forward to dessert later on.  Strawberry jam and fresh-whipped cream?  Yes, please!

Oh, and fifth best part was a mid-winter challenge that didn't require eggs.  The chooks are giving me one egg a day right now, which doesn't stretch very far for our family. 

Here's the recipe and exhaustive technique review from Audax.  Have fun!

November Daring Bakers: Sans Rival

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

Hello, my name is Kat, and I'm a prodigal blogger.

Actually, I heard on the radio today, but haven't otherwise verified it yet, that prodigal means to be welcomed back. If they don't take you back with a feast of fatted pig or lamb or whatever, you're not prodigal, you're just back.

Anywho...

We moved.

The internets came on just last night.

My job, after the move was complete, was decreased by 75%.

Things are, shall we say, up in the air?

Oh, and we got a dog.

So tonight, I thought I could just eke out the November challenge. I did the October challenge, and I'll post about that later. I couldn't at the time because all my internet accounts were hacked. That was fun. Don't use one password, no matter how strong, for multiple (or all) your accounts. One site gets hacked, evil people get your password, and they have fun playing with all your other accounts.

Anywho...

I thought I could just eke out the November challenge tonight after a full day's worth of moving. And an oven that doesn't work. I had my ten eggs, I had my almonds, I had a couple of hours before I could justify crashing into bed...

I whipped up my meringue to perfection. Then I added the nuts. Instead of folding the nuts into my beautiful bowl of my last ten eggwhites, I spaced out and turned the mixer back on. Faster than you can say "oh heck," or something similar, the entire bowl deflated into a puddle of liquid.

Did I mention our new house is out in the country? Yeah. No way to convince my little hens to squeeze out another ten eggs, and no way to get back into town to buy any to repeat the challenge.

I poured the slop into a greased cake pan, instead of spreading fluffy layers of meringue onto my carefully drawn circles on parchment paper. I threw it in the oven and walked away. About an hour and a half later, Mr. Boom appeared and asked about the cake.

The cake?

Oh heck! The cake!

(again, the word heck may have been replaced by another, stronger, and perhaps whole string of other words)

I took it out of the oven, tipped it over a cooling rack, and out thumped something that looked surprisingly tasty, if not that pretty.

I added some leftover cranberry sauce (homemade, of course) and called it a dessert.

People, it may be a wreck, but it's tasty.

Hopefully, this wreck of a house and my wrecked job will be at least as tasty. Or whatever.

Oh. To see what a Sans Rival is supposed to look like, and to get the wonderful recipe for yourself, go here.

Zucchini fritters (spell that one ten times fast!)

My garden runneth over, with zucchini.  I've made zucchini bread a few times already, and while we all like zucchini bread a lot, we are getting a little tired of the same ol' same ol'.  Mr. Boom and Chirp-chirp refuse to eat fried zucchini, no matter how much Parmesan cheese is melted over the top, so I'm trying to find new ways to use up the squash. 

A fellow Master Gardener brought me a piece of zucchini cake the other day, and it was sooooo good!  The recipe came from her CSA (a weekly fruit and vegetable delivery service straight from the farm), and she said she'd pass the recipe along to me.  She did send me a bunch of recipes for zucchini, but not for the particular slice of cake in question.

I finally e~mailed the CSA and asked if they'd share it with me.  They said sure, no problem, it's form Martha Stewart.  Lo and behold, I had the recipe here in my own home!  The cake was featured in the July Martha Stewart magazine.  Hooray!

In the same article, a picture of zucchini fritters caught my eye.  The fritter recipe called for exactly twice the amount of zucchini I had in the fridge, twice the eggs, and twice the onion.  Perfect!  I made the fritters for myself, and began reheating leftovers for the sure-to-be naysayers.  You know, of course, that I can't follow a recipe to save my soul, so here's what I did.

About one cup of zucchini, about one half an onion, together strained through a bit of cheesecloth.  About one cup of grated Parmesan cheese (another leftover), and a palmful of flour.  Also salt and pepper, but you can't really see those.

Mix it all up gently with one egg.  The last egg.  A store-bought egg because the hens refuse to lay in this heat.

Fry them up in a bit of oil in a cast-iron skillet set to blazing hot.  Throw the first three onto a plate and cook up the second three.

Come back to find the first three MISSING ENTIRELY!  Mr. Boom and Chirp-chirp like zucchini fritters, it turns out.  Like them a lot, it turns out.

Well, we've got lots of zucchini, but I'll need to get some eggs and onions.  Both of which, by the way, should be coming from the yard but aren't.  Thank goodness for the modern supermarket, and thank goodness for  a new way to serve the family squash.

I'll make the cake next, after I get the eggs.

I'm sorry to say that neither of these recipes are on the Marth Stewart Website, but I don't think you need a real recipe for the fritters, anyway.  Try it and let me know what you think!

FFwD: Basque Potato Tortilla

Did a whole week really go by again?  Every day I see things I want to share, or learn things I want to pass along, so why don't I blog more?  I don't know.  I really don't. 

I took a great hike on Sunday to retrieve a trail cam.  Of course, I forgot to bring my camera along, and there was nothing of interest on the trail cam itself. 

Also, the goldfinches and flickers have returned to my part of the world.  A cute little finch hit the window while I was out one day, so Chirp chirp brought the stunned bird into the house, provided a bit of seed and water, and there it recuperated in the music room.  I should have taken a photo, but I didn't.  One of it's feet was all fuzzy-ferny like.  I still need to look that up and see what the deal was.  It didn't seem to effect his flight, though, when we finally opened the window to release him back out into the cold.

I don't know.  I need to get myself in gear, I suppose.

I promise you this, though.  Sometime this weekend, or Monday by the latest, I'm going to post something really fun. You'll want to check back, it will be worth your while, and that's all I'm going to say about that right now.

So, this week's French Fridays with Dorie challenge.  Basque Potato Tortilla.  Yummy!

Oh!  Look!  Collages in Picassa!  I had a professor once who pointed out that every time a new theory came along in anthropology, every anthropologist tries to apply it to every single bit of new information they find, as well as apply to it every bit of old information already in their head.  He said that to a man with a hammer, the world looks like a nail.  Collages are my hammer at the moment.  So please do forgive me!  

I mean, have potatoes and onions ever looked so organized on this site before?

I love love love my cast iron pan.  The recipe called for cleaning out the pan after cooking the onions.  Everything slipped out of my pan and I didn't even need to wipe it out. 

Have I ever mentioned this pan was FREE?  I found it at a yard sale, covered in rust, in a "freebies" box.

Can't buy me looooooove.  Nooooooo, no no no, nooooo!

After adding the eggs and potatoes back to the pan, you practice your patience skills, and once the mixture has set up a bit you run a little knife or spatula around the edges to prevent sticking and to judge the doneness.

After a little stint under the broiler (I used my toaster oven on the broil setting), this lovely dinner awaits.

Yummmmm.  From start to finish the project took under half an hour.  It's like a quiche, but you don't have to make a pie crust.  And, it's like an omelet, but you all get to eat at once.

I'm not allowed to share the exact recipe with you (per Dorie's request), but this is the type of dish where the recipe is secondary to the technique.  Now you know the technique, so please do try this lovely fast meal.

(And don't forget to check back for the surprise!)

French Fridays with Dorie: Gougeres

This week is the first French Fridays with Dorie challenge, and boy am I glad to be a part of this!  I've been practicing my poor neglected french skills for the past couple of weeks.  Mr. Boom and Chirp-chirp are just about at wits end listening to my conversations with myself, the cats, the fish, the bees, and any other creature caught in my evil french aura.

The look on Mr. Boom's face as I was leaning over the bridge the other night, counting spawning sockeye salmon in a sort of frenchy Count from Sesame Street voice...well it was just something.  That's all I'll say about that.

This is not sockeye salmon, rather it's wild Coho.  And that's the last of the broccoli from this year's garden.  The gougeres really stole the show, though.  And my friends, I'm not kidding when I say it's a real feat to top fresh Coho salmon.

The recipe called for any type of sharp cheese.  I used an applewood smoked natural cheddar.  The smokiness went really well with the salmon and held it's own against the almost peppery taste of the late season broccoli.  The recipe also called for five large eggs.  One of my young hens is laying cute little eggs now, so I used up seven of her eggs to equal the five the recipe required.  One large egg, without its shell, weighs 50 grams.  So, I just kept cracking the eggs into the bowl until I hit 250 grams.  The yolks are just a bit bigger than my thumbnail, to give you a sense of perspective that the photo is sorely lacking!

So, first challenge was a total success.  I can't wait for next week!

Ouch! (by Kat)

One of these eggs is not like the other...

Can you imagine how that poor hen must have felt?

I made a wish before I cracked the egg...

Hooray! A double yolk!

My wish will come true.

In other news, besides the giant egg we've had
very large hail and an earthquake.

Hang on to your hats, folks. Something's abrew...