Kale with bacon and honey mustard

Ingredients

• 10-15 large stalks of kale (maybe 1.5 lbs?)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tbsp honey mustard
• 6 slices of bacon, cut in half
• 3 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper, to taste

Add the bacon and garlic to a large (preferably thick-bottomed) pot and turn to high heat. Let cook until bacon is crispy.
In the meantime, de-vein the kale and chop it finely. Wash it thoroughly. Set aside to drain.
Once the bacon is crisp, remove it from the pot and set it on some paper towels to dry. Make sure you keep most of the bacon fat and garlic in the bottom of the pan.
Add the kale to the pot, turn to medium heat, and cover. Once kale has been reduced in volume by about half, add half of the chicken stock (1/2 cup). Cover again. Once kale has been reduced even further in volume, add the other 1/2 cup of stock. Make sure to stir well in order to get as much bacon grease as possible on the leaves.
When the kale is just about done, add the honey mustard and stir well.
When you are satisfied that the kale has been thoroughly coated, remove it and put it in a serving bowl. There should still be a reasonable amount of honey mustard/chicken stock mixture in the bottom of the pot. Thicken it in the way you see fit -- cook it down forever, or add some cornstarch mixed with water. When it's thick, drizzle it over the top of the kale. Eat.

Thoughts: The idea to add honey mustard was my father's, and I think it worked really well. The original idea was actually to add dijon mustard + a little bit of brown sugar, but we only had honey mustard, so we used that instead. My dad thought it came out a little too sweet; in the future we would try to actually have some dijon on hand. I thought it was pretty delicious. This recipe makes kale the best vegetable in the world. Dan also liked it a lot. I give it two thumbs up.

Disaster Index:1/10 awesome

Honey Wheat Bread

One of the best breads we've made.
Ingredients

• 3/4c skim milk
  
• 1/2c half-and-half (or, anyway, use something of equivalent milk-fat to these proportions)
  
• 1/4c honey
  
• 3tsp yeast (one packet plus a little)
  
• 1/2tsp salt
  
• 1tbsp butter, melted
  
• 1 egg, beaten
  
• 1c unbleached all-purpose white flour
  
• 2 or 2.5c wheat flour
  

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a saucepan, combine the milk and half and half and proceed to scald the milk (wait until it starts to really froth up as it boils). Let it cool until you can stick a finger in it for about 3 seconds without jerking your hand away in pain. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir together, then turn out onto a well-floured counter and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding wheat flour as necessary so that the dough is JUST sticky enough that it doesn't QUITE stick to your hands / the counter. Spray with PAM and let it rise in a warm place for an hour. It will about double (or else your yeast was dead). Again on a floured surface, press dough down, dimpling it with your fingers, into a thick sheet, then fold in thirds. Dimple again with your fingers, then fold in thirds the other way. Do this one more time. Now pull all the edges of the dough into the top center and pinch together. Turn dough ball upside-down, so you have a really smooth surface on top and so the bottom is all pinched. Put on a baking sheet, spray with some PAM, and cover, letting rise in a warm place for another hour. Preheat oven to 375 (we let our dough rise on top of the warm stove as it preheated). Bake until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped and the color is a deep chocolate brown, about 40-45 min.

Thoughts: First of all, the crust on this bread was fantastic. Not too thick, not too thin, and just the right amount of resistance. The flavor was rich without being too heavy. In fact, the dough had a lot of rise and had a really nice texture. In addition to being some of the best TASTING bread we've made, it was also among the best LOOKING loaves. We'll definitely make this one again.

As a note of some interest: why do we scald the milk? I read in the Tasajara Bread Book (the bible of bread making) that milk contains enzymes that impede the action of yeast, and that you should scald milk before using it in bread to denature the enzymes. I had never done this before, and I don't exactly have a comparison of this bread WITH and WITHOUT scalded milk to see whether this is true. But this bread was so good, why risk it? The recipe on which this is based has powdered milk (in fact, a lot of bread recipes do) which would already have denatured the enzymes. So maybe there's something to this. Unfortunately, I don't actually OWN the Tasajara Bread Book, so I can't check my facts. I was just reading a copy in the bookstore. Hm.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Pumpkin Bread

I made this up based on a few recipes, but it is fantastic. Special thanks go to Cooks Illustrated for the method and general ratios.

Ingredients

• 2c unbleached all purpose white flour
  
• 1.5tsp baking powder
  
• 1tsp baking soda
  
• .5tsp salt (possibly +.25tsp more)
  
• 3/4c white (granulated) sugar
  
• 1/4c dark brown sugar
  
• 1 small pumpkin - peeled, seeded, and baked until soft. About 1.5c total.
  
• 1/4c buttermilk
  
• 1tsp vanilla
  
• 3tbsp butter, softened
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• spices - cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and allspice will get you on the right path. We did it "until it looked right" and tasted the batter after mixing, then adjusted.
  

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spice, brown sugar, and 1/4c of white sugar in a bowl. Set aside. Put the rest of the sugar in a stand mixer with the rest of the butter and cream together, about 5 minutes. While that's going, take the roasted pumpkin and mash together with the vanilla and buttermilk. We used a fork.

When the butter and sugar is creamy (about five minutes?) or until you're sick of waiting because your stand mixer was built in the early 70's, set the mixer to low speed and add one egg at a time to the butter / sugar mixture, giving plenty of time to beat afterward. Now make sure the blender is very low and add 1/2 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/3 of the pumpkin, then 1/2 of what's left of the flour, the second third of the pumpkin (half of what's left), and then the rest of the flour followed by the rest of the pumpkin. Taste and see if it needs anything. We added .25tsp salt and some spice.

Pour into a 9x5 bread pan (WELL greased - maybe floured, as well) and bake at 350 for 55 minutes. Actually ours took more like an hour and a half. Anyway definitely don't peak at it until about 50 minutes. Take it out when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Thoughts: fantastic! It was actually pretty easy to make. The mixing method (creaming together the ingredients) apparently prevents overmixing, so you don't have to do the standard quickbread mixing method. It does this by coating the flour in fat, so that not all the gluten can develop when you mix it. Anyway, with the extra .25tsp salt this was just right - not too sweet, not too salty, just really flavorful. It could stand up to chocolate chips or raisins, but we wanted to just get the standard recipe first. This would probably make pretty good muffins, too. The bread is very moist. Also, don't worry if the batter seems kind of... fiber-y. The fiber breaks down during baking, and you're left with a really smooth, delicious bread. If you decide to make this but use canned pumpkin, you may need to adjust the liquids somewhat. Just off the top of my head (though you'd kind of have to see what it looks like) I would guess that with canned pumpkin you'd use 2tsp baking powder, .5tsp soda, and no buttermilk.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Wine-braised Red Cabbage

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2.5 cups thinly-sliced red cabbage
• 1/2 cup chopped and peeled Granny Smith apple
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 2 bacon slices (uncooked), chopped
• 1/4 cup dry red wine (we used a Cabernet Sauvignon)
  
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup diced yukon gold potato
  
• 1 tbsp honey
• gorgonzola, to your liking.
  
• salt, pepper
  

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add cabbage, apple, onion, and bacon. Saute until cabbage is sort of tender (around 6 minutes?). Add wine and vinegar. Cover and cook until liquid evaporates and cabbage is completely tender (around 10 minutes?). Add the potato and the honey. Cover and cook until potato is tender, about 3 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and garnish with blue cheese, if desired.

Thoughts: Pretty delicious. In the future, I would crisp the bacon, crumble it, and then add it to the cabbage at the very end. There's no point in using bacon unless it's crispy. It's also more flavorful this way. The original recipe did not call for blue cheese, but after I tried the cabbage, I thought something should be added to cut the acidity a little bit, and the only thing we had was gorgonzola. But it's delicious. And highly recommended.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Strawberry Bread

Unusual and unique. Not what we expected at all, but definitely worth it.

Ingredients

• 1c chopped strawberries (I don't know, but I'd imagine it's more like 1.5c un-chopped?)
  
• 1.5c white flour
  
• 1/2 granulated sugar plus a teaspoon
  
• 1.5tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/2tsp salt
  
• 1/2tsp baking soda
  
• 1/4tsp baking powder
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 1/2c vegetable oil
  
• brown sugar for crumbling on top
  

Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine the strawberries and the teaspoon of granulated sugar and toss. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil to the strawberries and stir around, then add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour into a lightly greased and floured 9x5" bread pan. Crumble some brown sugar on top (optional). Bake about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (so long as you don't pierce a strawberry). Could take as few as 40 minutes, depending on the rack in the oven and whether or not you, like I, have a pizza stone in the oven all the time.

Thoughts: Claire and I were surprised by the dark whole-wheat flavor of this bread even when we used white flour. I mean, the bread turns pretty dark brown and has kind of a caramel, nutty flavor. Weird. What caused that? Was it the egg? Hm. Anyway, this version isn't too sweet. The original recipe we stole this from (by someone named Ellen Rainey who posted to allrecipes) used double the sugar and no baking powder. I can see why some people might prefer more sugar, but I actually like it this way. And then if you want it sweeter you can drizzle a slice with some honey. Overall, this recipe surprised us. Really delicious, though.

Future variations: cut down on the cinnamon and add some vanilla instead. Add other berries, particularly blueberries. Bake in a bundt pan?

Disaster Index: 1/10

Mexican Rice

Ingredients

• 1c extra long grain white rice, rinsed until water runs clear
  
• 1.25c water
  
• 2 to 2.5tsp chicken bouillon (or veg, but I wouldn't recommend it)
  
• heaping .5tsp ground annato seed
  
• .5tsp cumin
  

Wash rice and put it in a pot with the water over medium-high heat. Don't stir it more than once or twice, and only briefly. When the water reaches a low boil, cover the pot and turn heat as low as it will go. Let sit for 15 minutes. In the mean time, combine the seasonings in a separate bowl. Add no more than 1tbsp water and stir to dissolve. When the 15 minutes are up, pour the seasoning-mixture into the rice and stir to coat. If the rice looks like it needs a little more time, cover and continue to cook. Otherwise, re-cover and turn the heat off. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so. If you want, once it has been sitting for 5-10 minutes, you can add a little NEUTRAL oil and turn the heat back on, frying the rice lightly.

Thoughts: When we made this, we used 1.5tsp chicken stock. We're trying to copy the rice that they have at Casa De Lara in Madison, WI. We were very close, and we decided it just needed a little more salt. In the future, we could add chopped up carrots and peas, as well. Possibly we could cook them separately and then stir them in when the seasonings are done.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Vegetarian Enchiladas

We've already done this once, but the recipe has changed so much since the first time we made it that it merits posting it again.

Ingredients

• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
  
• 2 zucchini/yellow squash, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
  
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  
• 1 jalapeno pepper, skin charred and removed, seeds removed, chopped (see note)
  
• 1tbsp garlic
  
• neutral oil
  
• 1/2tsp cumin
  
• 2tbsp flour
  
• 1c chicken stock (or veg)
  
• 6oz pepper jack cheese, chopped or grated.
  
• tortillas
  
• 1 can enchilada sauce
  
• cilantro
  

Start by sauteing the onion in a little neutral oil over medium heat. Once it's getting toward translucent, add the zucchini, bell pepper, garlic, cumin, cilantro, and jalapeno. Cover for about 5 minutes, then remove lid and cook for another 5 minutes or so. When the zucchini are just tender (but still have a little tooth to them), take everything out and put it in a separate bowl. To the pot, add the flour and stir around. Add the chicken stock and turn the heat back on to medium-high, stirring to break up any huge lumps. Small lumps are okay. When the mixture is just starting to thicken, set to low heat and add 2-3oz of the cheese, stirring constantly. When all of the cheese is melted, re-add the vegetables and stir to coat.

Preheat oven to 350. In a baking dish, spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce. Then place tortillas in the dish, filling with the vegetables. This recipe makes two enormous burrito-sized servings or many more small servings, which would probably be more appropriate. Once all the filling is divvied up, fold the tortillas closed as best you can and pour enchilada sauce over everything, brushing even with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and fresh cilantro. Bake for 30 minutes or until you can't take it any more.

Thoughts: Our recent addition of the jalapeno was a huge success. This is giving Casa De Lara a run for their money.

Disaster Index: 1/10

*note: to char the skin of a jalapeno pepper, just turn on a burner and hold the jalapeno over the burner with tongs until the skin is burnt on all sides. It takes a while. By burnt, I mean completely blackened. If you don't have a gas burner, put the jalapeno on a baking dish and put it in the oven with the broiler on. When one side is amply burnt, turn it over and do the other side. Run the jalapeno under cold water after burning the skin, then just rub with the edge of a knife. The skin will just flake/slide right off.