Frozen Homemade Yogurt

Once I tasted homemade yogurt and realized the store bought stuff was just a pale imitation, I knew frozen yogurt wasn't far off.  The other day I made a fresh batch of yogurt and I made an entire liter so I could put half of it in frozen yogurt. (my Yolife yogurt maker has a low lid for those baby food bottles and a high lid to make up to 4 liters at a time.) I simply replaced heavy cream with homemade yogurt in the ice cream recipe and added a little extra sugar.  I used 1% milk throughout.

Frozen Homemade Yogurt

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups homemade yogurt

1 cup milk

Churn as for ice cream. The texture is a bit lumpy so I'll have to work on that but the flavor is out of this world.  There is little fat so it is light like a sorbet.  The flavor of fresh milk is transformed and made better by the culture which also adds an acid tang. I served it with an oatmeal cookie. Fern took one spoonful and started waving his arms expansively saying "Wow, this is incredible!"  

His reaction was so over the top I thought he was being sarcastic but no, he LOVED it! So did I, this is something to take to Chef Dave at the Laughing Oyster. He doesn't have time to experiment so he is quite happy to share in my discoveries. I gave him food toys (pre gelled starch, xanthan gum) for Christmas with instructions how to use them. He loved them.  He phones us to offer free buffet if he has musicians but not many reservations because he knows we'll tip the servers and musicians. This is a perfect example of how generosity pays you back. A lesson it took me too long to learn.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal cookies are really good when done well.  This recipe, Quick Oatmeal Cookies, is from Joy of Cooking. For those without this cookbook here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat oven to 350º.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

I bake mine on a rectangular pizza stone, not preheated, covered with parchment. Drop the batter onto the parchment to make 2 dozen cookies.  The recipe says 12 minutes cooking time but the stone takes longer, at least 15 minutes. These were in for twenty minutes and the other sheet took 25. This makes them very crisp with a satisfying snap when you bite into them.

I haven't tried preheating the pizza stone because it would be difficult to transfer the sheet of cookie dough and I'm not sure it would make a difference in the finished product.

Prawn and Chicken Curry

What to do with one chicken breast, 9 prawns and 2 hungry mouths. A curry! Dice an onion and caramelize it in a large pan. Cut a chicken breast into bite size pieces and shake in plastic bag of 1 tablespoon flour and a pinch of salt.  Remove onions from pan, add more oil and add the floured chicken.   Sear all sides of every piece then remove from pan.  A bit more oil and add the prawns.  A minute each side is enough, remove them from the pan.  The chicken and prawns will finish cooking in the sauce.

I added about a 1/4 cup of diced mixed peppers and seared them for a moment.  Next 3 tablespoons of curry powder and 1/4 tsp cayenne. Add enough oil to make a paste and cook briefly.  Add 1/4 cup chicken stock, more if it's still too thick.  Add 1/2 can pineapple pieces and 1/2 can coconut milk. Bring back to simmer and add frozen peas if you like them.  Simmer for a minute or two then add the onion, chicken and prawns back in. Add a little salt if needed. My sauce was a bit thin but boiling moisture off would turn the prawns to rubber, so I sprinkled a little instant blending flour over the curry and mixed it in. That did the trick.

Serve over basmati (or your favorite) rice.  Usually I make this with only chicken but the raw prawns were the end of a bag in the freezer, the pineapple and coconut milk were leftovers too for that matter. The meat could be turkey or pork if that's what you have in the fridge. In any case this dish is easy, fast and delicious.

Roast Beef with Artichoke Appetizer

My favorite grocery store has started a new kind of special, everything in the bin is one price, in this case $10.  The bin was full of sirloin tip roasts priced from $12 to more than $17 so of course I bought the biggest one. With such a big roast I had Fern invite Kevin over for dinner.  

The other day I picked up a bag of 4 artichokes for 99 cents. This would be a great time for an appetizer so I looked up what to do with the artichokes. Cut the top inch or so off  and the tips of the leaves.  Remove the small bottom leaves and cut the stem off. Put the artichokes in a steamer for about 35 minutes. Serve with garlic butter. 

Garlic Butter

1 clove garlic (crushed and chopped)

1/4 cup butter

a few grains of salt

Over medium heat melt the butter, add the salt and garlic then cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Serve individual dipping bowls. Sorry I forgot to get a photo. To eat, peel off a leaf, dip in butter and scrape stem end off against front teeth. When all leaves are gone cut away and discard the furry top of the heart and eat it.

Beef Rub

1  1/4  tablespoons paprika

1   tablespoon kosher salt

1   teaspoon garlic powder

1/2   teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2   teaspoon onion powder

1/2   teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2   teaspoon dried oregano

1/2   teaspoon dried thyme

Coat all sides of the roast with the rub then sear all sides on a hot burner with plenty of oil.  Set on a rack in the oven at 250ºF till the internal temperature reaches 150ºF. One and a half to two hours for my 1.3kg (2.8lb) roast.

Ordinary mashed potatoes don't need comment.  Turnips take almost an hour to cook and I put a couple of carrots in when they were half done.  Mashed the turnip and carrot with a little butter and salt.

I took the roast out of the oven and set it on the cutting board under foil to rest. We had the artichokes first.  Fern initially said Kevin wouldn't like artichokes but they needed to be used so I served them anyway.  Kevin liked pickled artichoke hearts but had never had fresh.  He loved them! He's going to buy them himself when they go on special! 

The roast was delicious despite not being Angus beef. I like a little horseradish with mine.

Chicken Fried Rice with Chop Suey

I like a good stir fry and it's a great way to get plenty of fresh vegetables. This plate included green pepper, mushrooms, bean sprouts, celery and onions. I cubed up  two chicken breasts and put them in a plastic bag for later. I prepped all my vegetables and sorted them into two rows, one for each pan.  A little green pepper and celery in the rice row, remainder in the chop suey.  Half an onion diced large and half the mushrooms in each row. I washed the bean sprouts and set them to drain. I got rice going, usually rice is cooled before frying but I didn't get started early enough.  The rice quality will be a little less but not unpalatable.

I put two tablespoons of flour in the bag with the chicken, opened it wide to get as much air as possible then twisted it shut at the top.  I shook the bag till every piece of meat was evenly coated.  Each handful of chicken had to be shaken to get the excess flour off.  If I had any more chicken to do it would have been worth using the sieve. Two large frying pans with oil and a few drops of sesame oil.  Plenty of hot oil in the rice pan when I put the chicken in it.  I browned all sides then put the mushrooms in this pan and also in the other pan for the chop suey. When the mushrooms had a good sear I added the onions and celery to both pans.  Gave them a minute to soften before adding the green pepper to both and bean sprouts to the chop suey. Soy sauce in both pans before I added the rice to the chicken Finally, just before everything was done I added a teaspoon of Oyster Sauce to the rice and a tablespoon to the chop suey. More soy sauce if needed and plate the dishes.

Oyster or fish sauce sound and smell awful but just a little can bring a depth of flavor to a dish that can't be found any other way. I added just enough to deepen the flavor of the rice but not enough to taste the oyster.  The chop suey had enough to taste the oyster, but it didn't overwhelm the dish. Each dish managed to maintain it's own identity despite similar ingredients.

Yogurt Butter Tarts

I decided to make butter tarts before checking to see if I had any cream, usually I do for the ice cream maker, but this time the fridge was bereft of cream.  Hmmm. I could use the rest of the homemade yogurt instead, it should work, so that's what I did. 

Pie Crust - 2 layers

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup shortening

1 large egg

2 tbsp cold water

1 tbsp vinegar

Cut the shortening into the flour and salt till it is oatmeal textured.  In a separate bowl whisk the egg, water and vinegar.  Slowly add half the liquid to the meal and stir with a fork.  Continue adding liquid till all the flour is taken up but don't get the dough wet and sticky. Cover and put in the fridge for 30 minutes at least. 

Yogurt Butter Tart Filling - 12 tarts

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup yogurt or 10% cream

Flour the work space and roll out half the dough to nearly 1/8 inch (3mm) thick.  Cut it into rounds with   something large enough.  I'm using a Wilson's 12 muffin pan and a 500ml yogurt container cuts just the right size circle. Something more rigid would be better but that is all I have. Lay the round over the pan depression and push the edges towards the center so it falls down into the mold. Gently press the sides and bottom down. If I lay a round and press in the center it tends to poke a hole in the dough. Brush the inside of each tart with melted butter then fill them all. Preheat oven to 400ºF and put the tarts in.  Immediately turn the heat down to 350ºF and bake 20 minutes.  When the pastry has browned some they are done.  If they aren't done there will be raw pastry at the bottom, bleck.

When they were cooled down I tasted them.  They were less rich thanks to no cream and the yogurt left a little acid that I think enhanced the flavors, still up for debate though. I think my dough was a little too wet and that's why some of the tart pastry looks exploded. It still tastes good though! 

Pork Chop with Savoy Cabbage

I was breezing through my alternate grocery store's bulk bins and spotted corn flake crumbs.  I had a pork chop breaded with corn flake crumbs once and remember liking it.  So I bought some and headed to my usual grocery haunt. The meat counter only had bone in chops on special, the dogs will be happy about that, so I picked up a couple. I bought a 10 lb box of apples to use with the cabbage and have for fresh fruit.

I got the potatoes on first and sliced up a couple of carrots.  I cut the thick stems from the cabbage leaves and chiffonade cut the remainder.  In a plastic bag I put 1-2 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp salt, leaves from sprig of thyme and needles from some rosemary chopped up.  I cut the fat off and shook each chop in the bag and set them aside.  I whipped up an egg, a little flour and some milk to dip the chop in.  I emptied the bag of the remaining flour and put 1/4 cup corn flake crumbs in the bag.  I dipped each chop in the egg and shook it with crumbs then laid it in a hot frying pan with plenty of oil.  I seared both sides on medium high heat to seal the meat in then turned the heat down to medium so the corn flake crumbs wouldn't burn.

I steamed the carrots half way then put the cabbage in.  The cabbage was steamed till about 3/4 done then the steamer was held under running water to stop the cooking. I emptied the water from the steamer and turned the burner to medium low. The chops were thick so I rotated and turned them over to cook them evenly. When the chops were about 5 minutes from ready I put the carrots and cabbage in the steamer bottom with extra virgin olive oil. I cored and diced an apple and put it in with the cabbage.   

I had to cut into the bottom of a chop to tell if it was done.  The crispy coating masked the press test and I don't have a lot of bone in cooking experience. It was too pink so I gave it 5 more minutes. I kept tossing the cabbage and drained the potatoes.  I mashed the spuds and added a little salt and milk. The water for potatoes is supposed to be well salted so they don't need more but I never seem to quite get there. In any case, if I may quote the chef at every failing restaurant where food is an issue, "It tastes good to me!"

Finally the chops were done so I set them on the warm plates I had ready.  A dollop of mashed potato and a serving of savoy cabbage with apples and carrots and dinner was ready. I added a few drops of lemon juice to the cabbage before serving. I put  2 tbsp of Fern's homemade ketchup on my chop, Fern dressed his own.

It's really hard to find the bone when the whole chop is coated like this.  From now on I will only batter boneless chops. Otherwise the chops were good. Fern didn't like the cabbage with apples, too sweet and he didn't like the carrots mixed in. Double 'not' on the vegetables, definitely don't make that again.  I think I'll try savoy cabbage with walnuts next ..... year. The mashed potatoes garnered no complaints. Oh good, at least I can boil water!