OUR NCL CRUISE

Luck of the Irish!

St Patrick's Day is almost here. The streets will be full of drunken partiers. Me??? No alcohol for me.... How about a nice big hunk of IRISH SODA BREAD with some Kerrygold Butter? My favorite Irish Soda Bread is this Almond Irish Soda Bread. Sweet and delicious....ENJOY!! No Caraway seeds for me though........................

Almond Irish Soda Bread

Grated Almond Paste makes an extra moist Irish soda bread and combines wonderfully with caraway for the best flavor ever. Don't wait until St. Patrick's Day to serve this tasty bread, it's a treat any time of the year!


1 (7 oz) box Odense Almond Paste

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raisins

1 Tbsp caraway seeds

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg, beaten

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, melted


Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a baking sheet.

2 Grate Almond Paste on large hole side of a box grater, directly into a large bowl. Add sugar and mix with finger tips until combined into small crumbs. Add flour, baking powder, soda, salt, raisins and caraway seeds. Mix with spoon.

3 Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Add buttermilk, egg and butter. Stir until combined and mixture can be pressed into a ball.

4 Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and knead lightly. Shape into a round, flat loaf about 7-8 inches in diameter.

5 Place on baking sheet and lightly flour top. With a sharp knife or razor, lightly score an x across the bread. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on rack for 15 minutes before cutting.

Hospital Cafeterias

Everyone always says that hospital cafeteria food is terrible. Well, I spent over ten years eating that food and loved every minute of it!! Turkey Divan, Corned beef hash and Swiss Steak are the dishes I remember. When I saw this recipe, it brought back memories of the Winthrop Hospital cafeteria food. Another easy one........

Swiss Steak
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients

1 round steak (approximately 1 1/2 pounds), see note

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt and pepper

All-purpose flour, for dusting

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 (14-1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 medium onion, cut into strips

1 medium bell pepper, cut into strips

Directions

Cut steak into serving-size pieces.
Season, to taste, with garlic powder and salt and pepper.
Dust meat with flour. In heavy skillet, brown both sides of meat in vegetable oil.
Transfer to Dutch oven.
Combine garlic, tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, and 1 tomato-can measure of water.
Pour over steak and simmer over low heat until meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours adding water, if necessary to keep meat partially covered.
Season, to taste, with additional salt and pepper.
Hint: Cook this in a slow-cooker, according to manufacturers instructions, on low for a most fabulous dinner. Low heat on a slow cooker is about 200 degrees F and high heat on a slow cooker is about 300 degrees F.

Note: to ensure tenderness, it is necessary to have the butcher run the round steak through a cuber.

Another Comfort Food Recipe

Ooooey, gooey, smooth and creamy........ Who doesn't like Macaroni and Cheese? Paula Deen keeps bringing them on!! I can't wait to try this one!! Best part of this recipe is thay you make it in a slow cooker!!

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

12 servings

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8-ounce box isn't quite 2 cups)

4 tablespoons (1/2 stuck) butter, cut into pieces

2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until tender, about 7 minutes.
Drain.
In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese.
Stir until the cheese melts.
In a slow cooker, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stir well.
Then add drained macaroni and stir again.
Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Spring has sprung...

I am finally seeing the buds on the trees and the bulbs sprouting in the ground. I am glad to know that the winter will finally be leaving us. All of the comfort foods will be leaving too which is sad. Let's get a few more in before BBQ season starts. This one is courtesy of Paula Deen and looks easy to prepare. You have to get your daily allowance of fruit in you know!!

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients

2 (16-ounce) cans sliced peaches in heavy or light syrup, or in fruit juice, your choice

1 pint fresh blueberries, optional

1/2 cup baking mix (recommended: Bisquick)

1/3 cup sugar

Ground cinnamon

Topping:

2 1/4 cups baking mix (recommended: Bisquick)
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

Cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar combined with 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; store in an empty spice shaker jar; shake well before each use)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a Dutch oven with vegetable oil cooking spray
Drain 1 can of the peaches.
Combine both cans of peaches, including the juice from the undrained can, the blueberries, if using, the baking mix, sugar, and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
Place this mixture into the Dutch oven.

To make the topping: Combine the biscuit mix, sugar, butter, and milk in a resealable plastic bag.
Drop bits of dough, using your fingers, on top of the peaches. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Place the Dutch oven into the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and crusty.

HOLA!!

Feeling better today. Went to a COMPARE foods today. Latino heaven. I was VERY happy to find this place. RIght next door was a Colombian Bakery. Wake me up when this dream is over. I first stopped in the bakery and say gigantic Bunuelos. They are a round fried dough and I believe the Colombian ones have some sort of cheese mixed into the dough. DELISH. They had GIGANTIC apple turnovers and pastries, all kinds of breads and Colombian style cakes. I even eyed some arepas in the case. YUM-O. I ate my Bunuelo in the car and it was still warm...LOL. Nick will try his later. Moving on to COMPARE foods. I found everything I needed for my chicken and rice dish, including ajices dulces which are little sweet peppers. I never thought I would find these. I used them in the sofrito. I also found the one thing I have been searching for to make my chicken stock. CHICKEN FEET.. 8-) They do make an awesome stock. I used chicken feet, wings, backs and necks. I just packaged up the stock so that I can freeze it. The chicken and rice was very good also. I had to use Emeril's chicken stock since my homemade wouldnt be finished in time. Isn't it funny how quickly my food tastes change? I can not get bored with food. I always need to try something different. Now, I have plenty of sofrito in the freezer. It is all prepackaged in one cup portions. Maybe I will make some pork shoulder with some of it soon....MMMMMM. I will also make sme rice with gandules again soon too. VIVA DAISY!!

Note: The alcaparrado had olives with pits in it. Next time I think I will just use the pimiento stuffed olives. Also, I made my second loaf of NO KNEAD bread today. This time I used bread flour and feel this loaf was superior to the one made with AP flour, even though I thought that loaf was amazing. You should try a recipe for NO KNEAD bread someday. I will post it if you want it.................

Chicken with Rice (Arroz con Pollo)
Recipe courtesy Daisy Martinez, 2008

Serves:
6 servings

Ingredients

1/4 cup Achiote Oil, recipe follows

1 (3 to 4-pound) chicken, cut into 10 pieces

Fine sea or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup Sofrito, recipe follows

1/4 cup alcaparrado or coarsely chopped pimiento-stuffed olives

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Pinch ground cloves

4 cups long-grain rice

4 cups homemade or store-bought reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 large bottled roasted red peppers, cut into 1/4-inch strips (about 1 1/2 cups)

Directions
In a paella pan or wide, shallow pan with a tight-fitting lid, heat the Achiote Oil over medium-high heat until the oil is rippling.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add as many pieces skin side down to the pan as fit without touching.
Cook, turning as necessary, until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.
Remove the pieces as they are done and set aside.
Adjust the heat under the pan, especially after you start removing chicken, so the chicken browns without the oil darkening.
When all the chicken is removed from the pan, add the Sofrito and alcaparrado.
Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Raise the heat to high and boil until most of the water is evaporated from the Sofrito.
Add the cumin and cloves.
Stir in the rice until coated with oil.
Return the chicken to the pan, pour in enough broth to cover the rice by the width of 2 fingers (about 1-inch), and bring to a boil.
Cook over high heat until the level of liquid reaches the rice. Stir gently and reduce the heat to low.
Cover the pan and cook until the liquid is absorbed, the chicken is cooked through, and the rice is tender but firm, about 20 minutes.
Fluff the rice with a fork.
The arroz con pollo can be brought to the table right in the pan or transferred to a large serving platter.
Either way, garnish with the red pepper before serving.

Achiote Oil:

1 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons achiote (annatto) seeds, see Cook's Note*

Heat the oil and annatto seeds in a small skillet over medium heat just until the seeds give off a lively, steady sizzle.
Don't overheat the mixture or the seeds will turn black and the oil will turn a nasty green.
Once they're sizzling, remove the pan from the heat and let stand until the sizzling stops.
Strain and reserve in a jar with a tight-fitting lid at room temperature for up to 4 days.

*Cook's Note: Achiote seeds are a deep orange seed with a nutty flavor. They are available in many supermarkets and almost all Latin markets.
Yield: about 1 cup

Sofrito:

2 medium Spanish onions (about 12 ounces), cut into large chunks

3 to 4 Italian frying peppers or Cubanelle peppers, cored, seeded and cut into large chunks

16 to 20 cloves garlic, peeled

1 large bunch cilantro, washed

7 to 10 ajices dulces (see Cook's Note*), optional

4 leaves culantro (see Cook's Note*), optional

3 to 4 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), cored and cut into chunks

1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into large chunks

Chop the onion and Cubanelle or Italian peppers in the work bowl of a food processor until coarsely chopped.
With the motor running, add the remaining ingredients 1 at a time and process until smooth. The sofrito will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It also freezes beautifully.

*Cook's Note: Ajices dulces are little sweet peppers that look similar to the fiery hot Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers, only smaller. They have a wonderful fresh herbal flavor, almost like cilantro, but only a tiny bit of heat. Culantro is an herb with broad, round-tipped leaves. Its flavor is similar to cilantro, but much more intense. Both ajices dulces and culantro are available in Latin markets. If you cannot find them, simply increase the amount of cilantro to 1 1/2 bunches

Simple Things

Home sick with a cough. Was planning on a cooking weekend. Chicken and rice. Meatloaf. Hopefully, tomorrow..When I am sick, I usually crave the simple foods. Of course, chicken soup fits right in. Guess my stock will have to wait until tomorrow. Just took some antibiotics........... Was watching Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, with my fav Ann Burrell, on Food Network this morning. She is so uplifting. Her chicken dish looked amazing, but what caught my eye, was the simple profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Simple to make, yet you pay a premium for this dessert in a restaurant. Hopefully, I can make these for my next dinner party.

Profiteroles
Recipe courtesy Anne Burrell

8 to 12 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup water

1/2 stick butter

Pinch salt

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

Pinch ground cinnamon

Ice cream

Chocolate Sauce, recipe follows

Special Equipment: Pastry bag fitted with large straight tip

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a small saucepan combine the water, butter and salt and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and add the flour all at once and stir it vigorously with a wooden spoon.

Cook until the mixture has formed a ball and has a slightly sweaty sheen to it and it has pulled away from the pan.

Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and let cool for 3 to 4 minutes. The mixture does not have to be cold, just cool enough not to cook the eggs when added.

Using an electric mixer or lots of good old-fashioned elbow grease, beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Do not add the second egg until the first is fully incorporated.

Add in the cinnamon and beat for another second to combine.

Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag equipped with a large straight tip and pipe 1-inch balls onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper.

When done dip your finger in water and smooth the top of each ball where the pastry bag released the dough.

Be sure to leave at least 1-inch between each of the balls. They grow!

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through the cooking time to insure even cooking.

When done, the puffs should be light, airy and dry inside.

Cool on a rack.

When ready to serve, cut in half horizontally and fill with ice cream of your choosing. (I prefer a really high-quality vanilla.)

Top with warm chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Sauce
4 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon corn syrup

1 good pinch ground cinnamon

Bring a saucepan with 1-inch of water to a boil.

Put the chocolate in a metal or heatproof glass mixing bowl and place on top of the saucepan with boiling water.

Pay careful attention that the mixing bowl does not touch the surface of the boiling water.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until the chocolate has melted and everything is combined. This is a pretty quick process, once the chocolate has melted remove it from the double boiler set up.

Spoon over the filled profiteroles.

This is best when served warm!