Cooking with Chip & Ann

[mrchipster]

We have decided to start a thread on our cooking. We will try to post one meal or recipe each week. Sometimes more and sometimes less.

We will try to cover food in all heat ranges so you can maximize the use of your oven and learn to use it for more than just pizza.

We are not professional cooks or chefs but we do enjoy good food and we really miss the "Whats cooking in the Karangi Kitchen" thread.

We welcome others to add to these recipes with their own comments, suggestions, and enhancements. i.e. better is just better.

We will do our best to include seasonal foods but as we live in Minnesota winter does not lend itself well to local produce.

Today's breakfast recipe is for Raspberry Scones.

Note: The raspberries came directly from our garden this morning.

2-1/2 C. AP flour
1/4 cup sugar - or to taste
1 TBS baking powder
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup I salted butter - cut to small cubes
Pulse together above ingredients in food processor until combined in pea size chunks

3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg yoke
Whisk buttermilk and egg in separate bowl

Pour slowly into running food processor until ingredients just combine.

Place dough mixture on floured work surface. Flatten and pour on berries.

1-1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Fold and flatten 3 times to incorporate berries, then flatten to 1 inch thick rectangle. Cut into 2-3 inch squares. Move to parchment paper 2 inches apart

Cook for 15-18 minutes in 425 oven. Till golden

Sprinkle with sugar or powdered sugar if you like.

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

Morning after party breakfast pizza.

We had a small party last night and had leftover dough and ingredients so we decided to have pizza for breakfast.

Oven temp 600f so not ideal pizza temps.

Prochutto ham - 2 slices
Grated sharp white cheddar
1 fresh spicy banana pepper from the garden
1 egg lightly scrambled (still a little runny) prior to going on pizza
Fresh ground pepper

Great breakfast

[davemartin88]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

My wife walked by as I had this picture on my screen, she thought it looked great and told me to get moving on our oven. Thanks for sharing!

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

My wife walked by as I had this picture on my screen, she thought it looked great and told me to get moving on our oven. Thanks for sharing!

It was very tasty. So.... "get moving on that oven"

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

We had our annual "National night out" block party last night and hot dogs were served, I volunteered to make the buns.

I made 8 dozen hot dog buns at 65 -70 g each which seemed to be a good size.

I cooked them on parchment 4 dozen at a time at about 525 f for 8 or 9 minutes.

This was the recipe

525 g lukewarm water
half stick butter soft
2 large eggs
1 kg bread flour
110 g sugar
2 tsp salt
3 tsp instant yeast

I did 4 batches and bulk cold fermented for 24 hours with 5 stretch and folds.

Formed into 65-70 g shapes placed on parchment and let them proof for about 3 hours covered with linen.

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

Last night was corn chowder but today's recipe is a nice crisp cucumber and zucchini salad. That went with it, no oven required for this side dish. The recipe is loosely based on a South African dish we had while we were there a few years ago.

2- medium cucumbers sliced very thin
2- medium zucchini sliced very thin
1- medium onion sliced thin or chopped
2- tbs fresh chopped dill weed
4 - Banana peppers cut into thin ringlets
----
Place above items in large bowl or ziplock bag if marinating over night.

Sauce
1/2 cup mayonaize
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs white vinegar
1/2 - tsp crunched red pepper or red pepper flakes
Fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste

Combine sauce ingredients until sugar dissolves, pout over cukes and zucchini mixture. Let sit in refrigerator at least 1 hour or even better overnight

Serve with fresh dill sprigs on each serving.

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

This post is not a recipe but a technique I tried today because I have made a few batches of bread in my home oven using the cast iron pot methods of Chad Robertson, described in his book Tartine Bread.

In his book he describes cooking bread for the first 20 minutes in a closed cast iron pot and then uncovering the pot and cooking the remaining 20 minutes, Uncovered.

It produces a very dark crusty boule with nice character.

The reasoning behind the covered start is to retain the humid environment that is developed in a steam injected oven or a brick oven that is full of bread. And then uncovering to allow the steam to. Escape to develop the desired crust.

I tried the following, I placed 1 - 2 pound boule in my oven and immediately covered it with a 3 gallon canning pot, the oven was about 525F. I cooked the bread with the pot over it for 20 minutes and then uncovered it. For the remaining 20 minutes.

The photo is the resulting bread. This was an attempt to do a small batch in my oven when I had it hot but did not want to produce a large batch of bread or for those of you who have smaller ovens and can only do a small batch.

I am posting from my ipad so can only attach one photo per post so there will be another post for the crumb shot. The bread was a little over proofed because I needed the time to cool the oven a little do to overshooting my temp from the fire I had last night.

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

Here is a photo of the crumb.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

Gudday
Now That Is A Great Idea! I do like the idea of the pot keeping in the steam.
Thanks for that Chip Ill definitely be using that.
Regards dave

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

The next few posts will be a series on making your own Fresh Mozzarella from milk and storing the curd so that you can save it to make fresh mozzarella (FM) in less than 10 minutes for any purpose, salad, caprece, pizza or mozzarella pinwheels, etc...

This recipe has bee developed by me based on experimentation with several different techniques presented by various book, Internet, conferences, and YouTube videos. The procedures and recipes have been optimized by me and I believe they produce very consistent results in cheese quality quantity and taste. I deviate from traditional methods at several points because I believe that modern tools such as plastic wrap, microwave ovens and refrigeration aid in consistency that can produce an excellent product with less work.

Feel free to comment on my processes and procedures if you feel you have any improvements and or recomendstions.

It all starts with preparation of the work area and selecting your ingredients.

The following are required minimums for making a good FM.

Units will be provided in English measure so metric will need conversion.

Ingredient list

Dry citric acid
Renet
Quality whole milk
Pure or bottled water - no chlorine
Table salt

Hard goods - no aluminum or cast iron for any of the hard goods, stainless or plastic is recommended.

Stainless pot or Dutch oven size 2 qt. larger than batch size i.e. if you are making 1 gallon of milk then you. Will need a 6 qt. pot. (No aluminum or cast iron)
Medium sized plastic or stainless strainer - a slotted spoon can work also
Thermometer - must be able to read 80 - 170F (digital preferred)
Plastic or stainless colander
Two measuring cups
Long sharp knife
Measuring spoon set

Optional items

Microwave oven
Kitchen timer
Microwave safe bowl
Cheese cloth
Coffee filter baskets
Large bowl
Snack size ziplock storage bags

Choosing your milk

If you are a purist get your milk direct from the cow.
If you are a little less pure get your milk pasteurized but not homogenized with the creame top still intact.
If you are like me go to the store and get some milk, Fresh Whole milk and try not to get ultra pasteurized.
Low fat milk will produce cheese but it will be dryer, less flavorful, and produce less cheese.

Citric acid - also called lemon salt, used in preservation canning, I get mine at a brew and wine makers supply, it can also be found at health food stores and on the Internet. It is a white granular substance resembling salt.

Rennet - I use vegetable liquid rennet (double strength) so if you use single strength you will need to double the amount of rennet. Liquid rennet requires refrigeration and only lasts about 6 months so do not buy mor than an ounce or two unless you plan on making huge amounts of curd.

I purchase my rennet at the same place as my citric acid and same other sources apply.

I do not recommend tablet rennet. I have not had good luck with it.

Bottled or distiller water, you can also set tap water out uncovered overnight and the chlorine will dissipate.

Table salt, if you are a purist use cheese salt, but... Salt is Salt.

If you have a hard time locating rennet and citric acid the following place is where I get mine and they do ship

Midwest Supplies
5825 Excelsior Blvd. Minneapolis, MN 55416 USA
Midwest Supplies - Homebrewing and Winemaking : Midwest Supplies

More to follow once I get my typing fingers back in place.

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

Part two,

Making the Curds and Whey


This recipe assumes you are making up one gallon of milk. Doubles or triples well with same ingredient ratios.


Add 1-1/2 tsp. citric acid and 1/4 cup of the bottled water to one of your measuring cups and stir until dissolved.

Add 5 drops of rennet and 1/4 cup of the bottled water to the other measuring cup and stir well.

Place your large stainless pot on the stove, add your gallon of milk, and stir in citric acid solution.

Turn on stove to medium heat and stir slowly until temp reaches 88-90 F.
Turn off stove and remove pot from heat.

You may want to have a clip that holds your thermometer to the side of the pot for convenience.

This step is critical....
Stir rennet solution into milk for 30 seconds and cover pot and let it sit undisturbed for 15 minutes.

Do not stir any longer than 30 seconds, it will interfere with the combining of the curd.

After the 15 minute wait, the curd and whey should look something like the photo, a very soft jello like material suspended in a clear light yellow liquid.

If the curd looks more like cottage cheese floating in yellow liquid then get yourself better milk, milk that produces chunky curd will still work but the milk you have is not ideal.

Cut the curd with the long knife in a 1 inch checker board fashion (sending the knife tip all the way to the bottom of the pot)

Return the pot to the stove on medium heat until it reaches 105-110F.
You will need to stir the pot very gently during this heating cycle.

Once the temp has been reached remove from heat and stir gently for another 5 minutes.

Now, take your slotted spoon or strainer and remove as much of the curd as possible, placing the curd into the colander and drain well

The whey should be collected in a clean bowl under the colander if you want to make ricotta from the whey.

If you are just discarding the whey pour it near your tomatoes they like it.

If you wish to save the curd for future use package it in zip lock bags and freeze.
Remove as much air as possible from each bag and leave about 1 tbs of whey in each bag to keep the curd from freezer burning.

If you have a vacuum packer this would be ideal.

I package my curd in 4 oz. packs in zip lock snack size bags, as that is a good size for my wife and me.

Next episode, turning curd into Fresh Mozzarella...

[mikku]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

I just saw your thread, what a great idea!
Now we have a forum that is really interesting to follow!
I just glanced but I will go back and look at the recipes closely--I love good tasting things! If I cannot get the wife to do them--I'll try on my own--I am just that stubborn. Worse than that is...if it doesn't come out perfect, I'll eat it anyway and try it again and again until it resembles the photo.

Thank you for sharing your lifestyle with us dummies.

I'll keep watching--!

[mikku]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

Just a note!

My neighbor Yoshida is a dairy farmer...Milks 200 cows a day! I can get fresh, like right out of the cow anytime--any day...milking is at 4AM and 4PM.
He has one of those fancy milking parlors... I think two people do about 20 cows at a time. Each cow is identified by number and their production is noted each milking.

So cheese making is a real possibility! Everything he produces is picked up twice a day. But 5 gallons plus or minus would not be missed!

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

Just a note!

My neighbor Yoshida is a dairy farmer...Milks 200 cows a day! I can get fresh, like right out of the cow anytime--any day...milking is at 4AM and 4PM.
He has one of those fancy milking parlors... I think two people do about 20 cows at a time. Each cow is identified by number and their production is noted each milking.

So cheese making is a real possibility! Everything he produces is picked up twice a day. But 5 gallons plus or minus would not be missed!

I live in the city so getting milk from the cow is out. You will need to try the FM recipe and let me know how it turns out. I have a 4 gal. pot so. I will often make up 6 gal. Of milk into curd for later use. 6 gal. Ends up being about 8-9 pounds of curd. The two 3 gallon batches take me about 2 hours with ricotta making and clean-up.

Nice to see We have a follower.

[mrchipster]

Re: Cooking with Chip & Ann

Part 3:

Turning your curd into Fresh Mozzarella.

For your first attempt at turning curd into Fresh Mozzarella place 4 oz do curd into a microwave safe bowl.

Sprinkle the curd with a scant 1/2 tsp of table salt. You may want to adjust the amount of salt for various recipes and your personal tastes but this is a good starting point.

Microwave on high for 20 seconds.

Remove from microwave and drain off any excess liquid by gently pressing with a silicone spatula or the back of a large spoon.

Treat the curd gently by pressing and folding it.

Return the curd to the microwave for another 20 seconds.

Repeat the press and drain to remove excess liquid.

Repeat these microwave drain and press and fold sequences until you begin to see the curd become smooth and shiny.

At this point you may want to put on some thin plastic or latex gloves to protect your hands from the heat.

Pick up the curd (now becoming cheese) and stretch and fold it gently and slowly.

Return to bowl and microwave again for 10-20 seconds if it begins to cool.

You can repeat this until the chees becomes the consistency you desire. The more cycles you go thru the more like string cheese it will become, I typicaly stop stretching after the second stretching session as I like my chees softer with more moisture.

The more you stretch it the dryer and tougher it will become.

Now take a piece of stretch plastic wrap, place the ball of cheese on the wrap, pull up the corners and twist into a ball, place the ball of wrapped cheese in the refrigerator or run cool water over the wrapped ball to firm it up.

Or better yet.... Eat the warm cheese..Yumm.

Next post will be "Turning frozen curd into Fresh Mozzarella."