Announcing...

Dear Stir it Up readers,

I'm moving! No, not me personally...well, not exactly.

I'm moving my blog!

Come join me at the new Stir It Up blog here - www.CheffingIt.Wordpress.com

There's a little follow button on the bottom right-hand side of the screen when you get there. Just click on that to follow me, or enter your e-mail in the Follow by E-mail spot in the right-hand column.

Oh! And, you'll find a new post there too! One I'm sure you don't want to miss - Nacho Poppers!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the new look!

Thanks so much!

Blessings,

Sarah

Eggs Florentine

So, I've been doing some research. I always seem to be doing research on something, but this is different. This is the difference between Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine. Do you know? (Actually, I'm thinking everyone on the planet knows but me...so much for my research efforts.)

Here's the story... You remember Benedict Arnold right? He was that American general turned British general back in the 1700s (aka, traitor!). Well, we never read this in our limited history books in grade school, but while he was still on our side he had a cooking duel with a guy named Eglen Florentine. 

Just kidding...

Well, I always think of Benedict Arnold when I make Eggs Benedict! Don't you?

Really, I haven't a clue how these breakfasts got their names, but I do know the difference now.

Eggs Florentine - Poached eggs over spinach, traditionally made with Mornay sauce, which is a bechamel sauce with cheese added to it.

Eggs Arnol...I mean Benedict - Poached eggs over ham,  smoked salmon or other kinds of meat, served with Hollandaise sauce.

Technically, this recipe isn't either, but typically,  Florentine is occasionally made with Hollandaise sauce, so that's the name I went with. Besides,  I like the name Florentine better - it doesn't come with all those bad connotations.

Anyhow, this recipe takes about 15 minutes to make - if you use all my short cuts. If you don't,  try doubling the time.

Start by making the hollandaise sauce -

You will need a small sauce pan that is 3 to 4 inches high and a bowl that fits about an inch down into the sauce pan. Place about 2 inches of water in the sauce pan (you don't want the water to touch the bottom of the bowl.) and bring to a boil. 

Separate 2 eggs, placing the yolks in the bowl. Squeeze the juice of a 1/4 to a 1/2 of a lemon into the bowl with the yolks and whisk until combined.

By the way, I love, love, LOVE, this whisk! And wouldn't you know, I've never found another like it. If you ever see one just like this, let me know, won't you?

I'll love you forever. (Depending on who you are of course!)

Place the bowl over the pot of boiling water and whisk constantly until the mixture starts to thicken. It won't take long at all, I promise. Drizzle in 1/8 of a cup of olive oil and remove bowl from heat. Most hollandaise sauces call for melted butter, but that requires another pot and more time. Hence, short cut #1.

Sprinkle in about a pinch or two of salt and one of cayenne pepper.

And if it gets too thick simply pour a little bit of the boiling hot water in and whisk. Short cut #2.

Now, set the sauce aside and focus on the skillet of peppers that you should have started already. I used frozen assorted peppers because that's what we had, but my choice would be jarred roasted red peppers and you could omit this step all together- bonus short cut. Sauté until slightly charred, stirring frequently. 

 I started the frozen peppers in a dry skillet to keep them from steaming. When they are to your liking, add some butter, then some spinach and cook just until wilted.

While you are doing that an english muffin should be toasting in the toaster. Pop it out, toasted to perfection, and place on a plate. (I used Bays Original English Muffins, but I have a great recipe if you're feeling industrious and want to make your own.) Top with spinach and peppers.

Did you keep that water boiling? I hope so,  'cause we need it now for short cut #3. Sprinkle some salt in. Then crack an egg and slowly let the contents slide into the boiling water.

It will only take a few minutes for it to soft cook. Using the back of a slotted spoon you can tell how firm it is and cook to your liking. When done, scoop it out with the said slotted spoon and let drain a moment before placing on the spinach and peppers. Repeat with another egg if you so desire.

Back to the hollandaise sauce... give it a good whisk, and if it has thicken too much add a bit more of the boiling water (making sure not to get any bits of boiled egg white in there.). Spoon over eggs and serve.

I like my eggs soft. I like this picture too. The color yellow is just cheery,  don't you think?

Yum! I love breakfasts and I love eggs. They are so good and good for you too. So have a happy, healthy breakfast to start off your day!

2011 Culinary Highlights

Is it really, really the middle of January? Wow! 2011 was a great year for me - new adventures, new places, new people and lots of lessons in the journey of life.

And, of course, we can't forget new recipes!

It was a year ago this month that I started the Penarious Challenge. I'd have to say that the most interesting challenge was the attempt to recreate Heinz ketchup in the kitchen. I learned more about ketchup than I ever wanted to know and came pretty close, but not close enough. Heinz Tomato Ketchup recipe remains a secret.

One of the most exciting moments in my culinary blog world was getting interviewed by Ian Lamont of Slickepott, the fudge sauce company. You can read about all that in this post if you haven't already.

And, if you haven't already, click on over to his website and buy some fudge!

Most Complicated Recipe Award goes to the Orange Almond Cream Cake. 

My, was it good though!

Here are the recipes that made the "You Gotta Try" list. No, it's not every recipe I posted last year either. :D

Sweetness -

Raspberry Cheesecake

Swedish Mazarinmuffins

Cherry Almond Oatmeal

Savory -

Gnocchi with Spinach Cream Sauce

Reubens

Fresh Tomato Mozzarella Salad

It's another adventure to take on 2012! I annually wonder what the next year will hold and before we know it, it will all be memories! 

So don't forget to savor the moments - stop to smell the roses, give a hug, breath in fresh air, try a new recipe, or count your blessings! 

Happy TwoThousandTwelve! 

~Sarah

Asian Spring Rolls

Dad and I ran some errands in Oklahoma City the other day and, since we were going to be near the Asian District anyway, we stopped by a store that I've been wanting to go to for a while now -  Super Cao Nguyen, one of the biggest Asian markets in town.

I have so much fun in stores like these and I regret that I didn't have my camera along so I could show you some of the unusual things I found. This particular store reminded me alot of the Asian market we went to in LA. Although it wasn't as big, it still had fresh seafood tanks, an aisle of dried fish and seafood, a bakery that had amazing smells wafting from it, a gift section and aisles of sauces, oils, rice products,  fresh produce,  etc. 

My purpose - second to just browsing about enjoying myself - was to get ingredients for spring rolls. The first time I had spring rolls was this summer with my friend in Post Falls. I had to share the experience with my family. :D

The Menu

Orange Chicken

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Miso Soup

This was the hardest part of the spring rolls - cutting all the vegetables into julienne strips. I think shredding would work as well - and might even be better for eating. You can't beat the looks though, aye? :D

Outside - Clockwise from left: carrots, yellow pepper, cucumbers, green onions.

Second row - radish sprouts, cilantro

Middle - minced fresh ginger

The other main ingredient for the filling is vermicelli, which is a type of pasta made with rice and is very elastic. It comes dry in a package like pasta. Boil some water in in a sauce pan, remove from heat, place vermicelli into hot water and let sit to soften.

This is the rice paper I used.

To assemble, place a sheet of rice paper in a tray of warm water until softened. Spread out on a plate and layer the vegetables in a 3 inch by 1 inch rectangle in the middle. Top with a small amount of noodles. Fold the sides over the top of the filling, then fold the bottom over. Firmly roll the filling up to the top of the wrap.

You can serve soy sauce to dip the rolls in, or to put inside the rolls. I made two different sauces - one soy sauce based and one hoisin based.

This is a messy way to eat one...

I'm not going to post the orange chicken recipe I used here, as I think it could use some help, but here are a couple pictures.

My brother came and fried the rest of the chicken so that I could make the sauce and get some other things done.

I really really love it when someone else will do the frying, 'cause I really really don't like to fry. I think I make something that needs to be fried about once a year - or maybe every two years. :D

This was the chicken before it was tossed in the orange sauce. And, my apologies, but I have no pictures of the final dish. Terrible of me to let you down like that, I know!

The Miso Soup...

We love this stuff. It is soooo easy and soooo yummy. Just start off with some homemade chicken stock, add soy sauce to taste (or, we use Braggs Liquid Aminos), heat to boiling, add sliced mushrooms, minced ginger and sliced green onions. Serve with miso paste on the side to mix in individually.

When we were in LA our friends took us to a Japanese restaurant where we had some amazing sushi. For dessert they brought out these fun little desserts called Mo Chi, so when I saw these at Cao Nguyen I had to try them out.

These are made with rice and a green tea or red bean based filling.  It's hard to explain what they are like. Chewy. Gummy. Interesting flavor. There you go. Worth trying, but I wouldn't get them again. One thing I learned is that there are different kinds of Mo Chi and the kind we had in LA was Mochi Ice Cream. That, I will have to try to find. :D

 Mochi with raspberry sauce.

And that was the end of our Asian Dinner!

The Reuben - Redone

So I couldn't help it. The last post really was the last one of the year...until last night. 

I was just going to make Reubens - without the camera. But as I put all the ingredients together, something possessed me and I ran upstairs for my trusty Canon. This recipe was just too good not to share with you.

If you are a lover of Reubens, as I am, I hope you'll agree. 

The ingredients are temptingly fresh. From the quick and easy sauerkraut, to the made from scratch Thousand Island dressing, a think you'll appreciate this combo.

The Bread - I love rye with caraway seeds, but sourdough is a good choice too. Thin slices are super nice in my opinion. There is something about a sandwich that is bigger than your mouth that just isn't appetizing. Maybe I'm just weird, I mean, I eat hamburgers with a fork.

The Meat - I roasted a turkey for these and finely shredded the meat, making sure it was is bite-sized pieces. I don't know about you, but I dislike biting into a turkey sandwich and pulling out a 6 inch long piece of turkey. Pet peeve of mine. I'm not a picky eater, but I can be pick about my food. :D

The Cheese - Swiss is traditional, but we obviously aren't going traditional here. Some members of my family like swiss, some do not (read emphatically!), so I use provolone, or cheddar... or Swiss.

The Kraut - You can buy this in a jar or a bag in the refrigerated section of your grocery store, or you can make this quick and easy recipe that is just as good or better.

1/2 head of cabbage, thinly slivered

1 t. salt

1/2 t. caraway seeds

1/2 c. vinegar (I used a mix of red wine vinegar and white)

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and tamp down for about 5 minutes. ( I use the end of a french rolling pin for this step. A thick wooden spoon would work too.)  This brings out the cabbage juices, helps meld the flavor and breaks up the cabbage a bit more. Cover and chill for about 3 hours.

The Dressing - You can simple buy Thousand Island Dressing or the traditional Russian dressing, but this recipe is a thousand times better. The original called for a quart of mayonnaise, which would make a lot of dressing. I scaled it down to half size here. There's a lot of chopping going on. I did it by hand because I wanted that look, but it would taste just as good mixed in the food processor using the chopper tool. As another option, here's a recipe that pretty much uses the squirt and stir method.

2 eggs, hard-boiled and diced

1/8 c. worchestershire sauce

1 1/2 t. sugar

1/8 c. white vinegar

1 pinch of cloves, ground

2 c. mayonnaise

1/3 c. sweet pickle relish

1/4 c. diced black olives

1/4 c. red bepper, diced

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill until needed. 

Assemble the sandwiches with the ingredients in the order listed above.

Top with another piece of bread and butter generously.

Place butter side down in a preheated, buttered skillet, or butter side up on a panini griddle. Cook until the outside is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Oh yum!

Northwest Fishing and Fish Chowder

I know, it's been forever since I said I was going to do this post. I feel terrible for leaving you hanging so long. I do have a good excuse though, or two...that is, if there is such a thing. :)

You see, I was waiting on some pictures that I just had to include in this post. Then my sister came up to visit, I finished my last day at work, we traveled around visiting friends for a week then headed down to Boise to meet Caleb. The three of us traveled two days to get home, a friend flew in the night we got back, another friend flew in for a week,  Thanksgiving came and went and, well, I think I just realized I'm actually home. Weird,  yeah? What's really weird is that it doesn't even feel like I left. Except that...someone changed some things around in the kitchen. 

 One of my favorite things about being in the Northwest is that I get to hang out with some of my favorite people. These particular favorite people do some really cool things that I was privileged to participate in and one of those really cool things was going Mackinaw fishing.

It was cold and rainy, but it was fun and we caught some delicious looking fish. My one regret is that I didn't save all the beautiful orange fish eggs that were in all those fish. Did you know caviar sells for over six dollars an ounce?!! We would be rich! :)

Being a landlubber from the plains of Oklahoma where the freshest fish you can get is bass or perch from a muddy cow pond across the pasture, I was thrilled to have fresh fish to cook with and eat. Some friends of mine had gone on a trip to Alaska and gave me some of the fish they caught as well - Halibut, King Salmon and Rock fish, so I was in fish chef paradise. :) 

After our fishing camp trip, my friend grilled a very fresh mackinaw for our dinner.

It was amazing.

I topped that trip off with a solo hike up Smalley Creek.

 The "bear hair" hanging from the trees gave the already misty morning a surreal feeling. It was so beautiful and quiet...

 Until I heard something crashing it's way through the brush. I froze. It froze. I moved. It moved. I think we were both trying to figure out what the other one was. It got scared and ran first. I was scared but I didn't run. Don't ask me who was smarter. :D Anyway, from the sound of it,  it was a moose. I was very disappointed that I didn't get to see it. I'm certain it wasn't at all disappointed that it didn't see me. 

Anyway, it was exciting...for both of us, I'm sure.

But, now that I've made you all very envious of my adventures, I'll move on to the fish chowder. After all, this is still a cooking blog...I think. :D

I made fish chowder twice while I was in Idaho. Once with rock fish and the other time with halibut. I'm a huge halibut fan, but it's all about personal tastes. Any white fish will do in this recipe. 

Another FYI, this soup is super versatile, so I'm not giving any measurements or specific ingredients. Don't be mad at me please. Just use your creativity and go with what you think sounds good.

Start by placing the fillets in an oiled skillet over medium heat. Season heavily with smoked paprika and sprinkle with salt. Cover and let cook until it looks like the bottom half is done. Flip and season the other side. When the fish flakes easily, remove from pan and reserve for later.

The vegetables can be added according to your taste. From top left clockwise I have celery, red pepper, zucchini, frozen corn and peas and onion.

Add a little more oil to the skillet and saute the onions until caramelized. Then add the other chopped veggies. Saute until slightly soft.

Turn the burner down to low and toss in a handful of flour. Stir the mixture as you pour in chicken broth and/or milk until you have a gravy consistency.  Flake the fish into large chunks with a fork and add to soup.

 Season with salt, paprika, garlic and pepper.

For added smokey flavor, serve topped with smoked Gouda or sharp cheddar cheese.             

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A couple more pics before I go. When Anna came to visit me, our friend took us to Smalley Creek Falls. It's just below where I started my solo hike, so I hadn't seen it before. It was a beautiful place, especially with the icicles framing the falls.

So, this marks the end of my Idaho summer! I can't believe 2011 is almost over! I'm guessing this will be the last blog post for this year, so have a wonderful December and a great beginning to 2012!