Yummy Wheat Bread

Yummy!

2 cups of Whole Milk

3 tbls of Butter

3/4 cup of Light Brown Sugar

2 tsp sea salt (taste your dough for more or less)

3 tbls of vegetable oil

2 packets of yeast

1/2 cup of Potato Starch (or, you can do one medium peeled, mashed potato)

1/2 cup of White Flour

Enough Whole Wheat Flour to make a stiff, but elastic dough (3-4 cups?)

Heat the milk until it is just warm enough to melt the butter. Add milk and butter to a mixture of brown sugar, white flour, salt, yeast and mix briefly. Let is sit until foamy, about five minutes. Add your vegetable oil and potato starch and begin to mix in your wheat flour until you have a stiff dough. Your dough should pull away from the sides of your bowl and form a ball, but it shouldn't be to incredibly stiff - you will end up with a tough, over-dense loaf. Knead your dough about 5-7 minutes and let rise until doubled (45 mins to 1 hour). Punch down dough and let it rest for another 5 minutes. Form your loaves and let rise again until doubled (30 mins to an hour). Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Jerk Mix

I ran out of Jamiacan Jerk seasoning, so I made my own. Here's my recipe - its was really good, if I may say so myself.

Make this mix and then pour over Chicken peices (bone-in or boneless, whichever you prefer - but Jerk Chicken wings are amazing).

Note: I don't usually measure, but use really aromatic spices (nutmeg, allspice, etc...) conservatively.

- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Nutmeg
- Allspice
- Ground Ginger
- Ground Cloves
- Thyme
- Ground Coriander
- Crushed Red Pepper
- Crushed Garlic
- Minced Onion (fresh or dried)
- Ground Black Pepper
- Salt
- 1 cup Lime Juice
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 3 tbs Olive Oil

Mix (or grind) dry ingredients with a mortar and pestle - add to olive oil, lime juice, and brown sugar mixture. Let sit at room temp for a bit (20 mins - hour) and then pour over meat to marinate and/or bake.

Banana Ice Cream (For After a Jamaican BBQ)

1 pint Heavy Cream
5 Cups Whole Milk
1 1/2 cups Evaporated Cane Sugar
1 tbsp Real Vanilla Extract
6 Egg Yolks
4 Ripe Bananas (pureed in food processer)

Ice Cream Maker

In a medium-large pot melt together cream and sugar, stirring constantly. Add milk and continue stirring until very warm. Add about 1 cup of the milk, cream, and sugar mixture to egg yolks - stirring constantly until well mixed and tempered. Slowly add egg mixture to pot - again, stirring constantly so as not to scramble the egg. Cook over medium heat until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, let cool at room temperature, then chill until cold.

Mix in pureed Bananas.

Pour into Ice Cream Maker container and freeze according to the machine's instructions.

There's it

Chicken Curry...via Matroosfontein, Cape Town

So I haven't added anything new in awhile, so I thought I would.

Well, I just got back from visiting family in California and every time I'm around my sister wants me to make this South African (more specifically, Capetonian) chicken curry recipe. Its pretty much awesome and you can use chicken or beef. The measurements are a bit crude here, but experiment a little with the curry seasonings.

Here's the recipe for approx. 6 servings:

4-5 Chicken Breasts, cut into chunks (or Stew Beef)
1 pound of cubed potatoes (it doesn't really matter which kind, I like Yukon)
2 medium sized onions, diced
5 medium cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons ginger paste (or grated fresh ginger)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 cups of water or chicken stock
3 medium tomatoes, diced
3 -4 tablespoons Hot Madras Curry Powder
2 teaspoons Cumin
1 teaspoon ground Cloves
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
Salt to taste



Heat the cooking oil in a large sauce pot or dutch oven. Saute onions, garlic, and ginger until the onions are soft and translucent (but do not burn the garlic). Add the curry seasonings and saute for another 1-2 minutes. Add chicken and continue sauteing until almost cooked through, then add water or stock. Let simmer on low heat for approx. 25 minutes. Add potatoes and some salt and continue the simmer. When the potatoes are cooked through and soft, add tomatoes and the remained of the needed salt. Let simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes, adding more water or stock if necessary (Curry should have the consistency of a thick stew).

Serve over rice or wrapped inside Roti

Banana Cream Pie

pie filling:

3 ripe bananas cut and mashed into small pieces
3 tbsp - butter
4 cups - milk
1 cup - sugar
2 tsp - vanilla
1/2 tsp - salt
4 egg yolks
3 -4 tbsp - corn starch (dissolved in 1/4 cup of cold water)

in a large sauce pot, saute together bananas and butter for about 3 minutes. add milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.

beat egg yolks in a separate bowl. gradually add about one cup of the hot mixture to the egg yolks stirring the entire time. stir egg mixture into the pot. cook for an additional 5 minutes. add cornstarch/water mixture and continue cooking until you have a thick, pudding-like consistency.
remove from heat and cool.

pie crust:

see recipe in Apple Pie post - but you will be making two single-crust pies instead of one double-crust one. leave the measurements the same.

bake the single pie crust in the pie pan at 350 for 10-15 minutes (or until golden brown). this can be a bit tricky because left unsupported, the pie crust will fall down the edges of the pan. to avoid this, bake the crust with baking beans or place another pie pan on top of the crust (two pans with the crust inbetween).

cool the crust

when both are somewhat cool - add the filling to the crust. chill in the fridge until the pie is cold and set. top with fresh whipped cream* and extra banana slices.


*fresh whipped cream:

2 cups - whipping cream
3 tbsp - sugar
1 tsp - vanilla

whip with an eclectic mixer until thick and creamy (to whip for too long or you'll end up with butter)


and theres it.....

Run Out of Butter?

I did this morning. But...ah hah! I was able to draw on a nifty little Kindergarten activity I did almost 20 years ago...I made butter. Simple.

Heavy Whipping Cream + Pince of salt (or sugar, or etc...depending on if you want to flavor it) + gladware container with a tightly snapping lid (or a jar with a screwcap) + shake the hell out of it (about 4- 5 minutes of vigorous shaking) = Really Good Butter + Bonus Buttermilk

Yes, I know...odd. But do try it.

The Most Amazing Apple Pie Ever....For anyone who cares to know

pie filling:

6 - large granny smith apples (peeled and cut into thin-ish slices)
juice from 1 large-ish lemon
1/2 cup - brown sugar
1/2 cup - white sugar
2 tsp - cinnamon
1/2 tsp - nutmeg
2 -3 tbsp - flour
splash of vanilla

first mix the apples, lemon juice, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla together in a large bowl - let sit for 5 minutes. next add the flour and mix well

pie crust

2 1/4 cups - flour
1 tsp - salt
1 tsp - sugar
2/3 cup - shortening
8-10 tbsp - ice water

with a food processeor, a pastry cutter, a large fork, or two knives cut the shortening into the flour , salt, and sugar until you have pea size pieces of the mixture. add the ice water - a tablespoon at a time - until a firm dough is formed. divide the dough and, inbetween wax paper, roll out into two circles.


line a pie pan with one of the circles, pressing it into the corners of the pan. add the apple filling. cover the filling with the other crust and seal the edges . make a pretty design.

Bake on the center rack of the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Brush crust with a beaten egg and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.

WaLah...