Deenuts Dana: Recipe

Showing posts with label Recipe. Show all posts

3/30/10

G's Spot: Vegetable Spring Rolls

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

¼ cup crumbled goat cheese

Small spaghetti squash (you will only need ½)

3 small baby zucchini, julienned

10 Vietnamese spring roll wrappers

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. cumin

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ Tbsp. rice wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Mise en Place:

Instructions:
1) Cut spaghetti squash in half; take out stringy inside and all seeds. Put ½ away. (You can wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for a few days before preparing.) Brush the other ½ with olive oil, cumin, salt, and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for about 40-60 minutes. Shred and chill.

2) Sauté the julienned zucchini with a little olive oil. Chill, then add rice wine.

3) If you have never used Vietnamese spring roll wrappers, it’s simple. It may take a few tries to get the hang of it. Put some water in a shallow bowl. Place a wrapper in the water for about 30 seconds to a minute. You want to soften the wrappers to perfect rolling consistency. As you do more, you’ll be able to tell how long it takes for them to soften up to the working consistency you want. If you let them get too soft, they will rip; too hard and they can’t be worked with. Keep in mind they will continue to soften as you fill and roll them.

4) When you are ready to roll the wrappers, be sure to season the zucchini and squash with salt and pepper.

5) Place a softened wrapper on a flat surface. Spread a tablespoon of the zucchini down the length of the wrapper. Sprinkle a little of the goat cheese on top of the zucchini. Spread a tablespoon of the spaghetti squash on top of the mixture.

6) Begin by rolling the back of the wrapper over the filling.

7) Fold in the edges.

8) Continue rolling.

9. Enjoy!

3/4/10

G's Spot: Bananas Foster French Toast

YAY! Greg's first recipe! And, as the official taste taster of this recipe, I can attest that this creation is phenomenal! Greg wanted me to tell you that he created this recipe completely from within his head, which, is very large, but also very creative. Let's begin!

                      Bananas Foster French Toast
     1 tsp. cinnamon
     1/4 tsp. nutmeg
     1/2 cup dark rum
     6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
     2 Bananas quartered and cut into 1 inch pieces
     1/4 cups packed brown sugar
     2 eggs
     2 Tbsp. of milk
     1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
     Several slices of bread

Mise en place:

Q: Hey, why is that one banana really brown?

A: Because I froze it when it was on its way out so that I could use it in a recipe like this one day.

Combine the milk, eggs, and vanilla in a shallow casserole dish.

And whisk 'em up!

Dunk the slices of bread in the egg dip, making sure you flip them and both sides of the bread get coated evenly with the egg. In this recipe, honey wheat bread was used. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter on griddle and cook the slices on medium/high heat. (You can also cook the bread in a pan if you don't have a griddle.)

editor's note: my friend Gabrielle bakes her french toast on a baking sheet in the oven, so you can do that too! Gab-if you're reading, what temperature do you bake your french toast on? Leave answer in the comments.

And the other slices...

Once the bread is brown on both sides, it's done. And, it's now officially french toast. Set your slices to the side.

Now get out a medium sized pan.

And heat the rest of the butter in the pan until it bubbles. Then add the bananas and sugar and heat it until the sugar melts and is bubbling.

Add the nutmeg and cinnamon. Then add the rum. If you have a gas stove, take the pan off of the stove before adding the rum to avoid a fire.

editor's note: FIRE?! Greg, what are you doing to my readers?! I gave them a bread machine recipe; you have them preparing something that requires protective eye wear! This recipe may be for more experienced cooks. Fire! Moving along...

Keep cooking on medium/high heat for approximately 2-3 minutes, which will allow the alcohol to cook out. When the juices thicken, pour over the french toast slices.

Enjoy!

2/27/10

G's Spot: Garlic and Cheese Bread

How exciting! Our first recipe here on Deenuts Dana's G's Spot. Hey, that sounds, er, interesting. Full disclosure: Greg is working today and wasn't able to provide a first recipe. So, you've got Dana. I'm actually not that bad of a cook. It's just that when you live with a professional one, your cooking tends to get overshadowed. So, I thought I would start up this section of the site with a recipe that serves two purposes: 1) it was one of my mother's favorite foods, and 2) it's made in a machine and is practically impossible to mess up! So, without further adieu, please allow me to introduce one of my favorite bread recipes.

Garlic and Cheese Bread

1 1/4 cups tepid water

3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

2 tablespoons powdered cheese (from a mac 'n cheese box)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

I know, you're probably thinking where's the garlic? Just be patient, kittens.

When I first got my bread machine, I went online searching for recipes. I found this one, although I've changed it up a bit, but I didn't make it for a few weeks, due to the powdered cheese ingredient. I really didn't want to give up a box of mac 'n cheese just so I could use the powdered cheese in my bread recipe. Until one night I opened up a box and found TWO CHEESE PACKETS. It was like the people at Kraft wanted me to make this bread. And so I did. And now, after having it, I will gladly sacrifice a perfectly fine box of macaroni and cheese so that I can make Garlic and Cheese Bread.

I'll start with addressing the elephant in the room, before the elephant, has, uh, actually entered. The lighting in my kitchen is less than desirable for taking photos of food. Since I was working alone with this recipe, I couldn't take the most ideal photos while also cooking the food. I'm going to consult with my photography experts (and by experts I mean two friends who take really nice pictures) and hopefully I'll be able to improve the picture quality. If the experts tell me that I must completely renovate my kitchen and get a whole new one, so be it! In the name of this website, I must do it.

First, let me show you the bread flour that I've been using since I started making bread in a machine. My grocery store didn't carry bread flour, so I ordered several pounds of this online.

Also, I made my own concoction of Italian seasonings, which included garlic powder. The pre-mixed Italian seasoning does not contain garlic powder, therefore if you use the pre-mixed Italian seasoning, use 1 1/2 teaspoons of that and then add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder to the recipe. Here are the usual suspects. I used 1/2 teaspoon of each.

Mise en place

Allow me to introduce you to my bread machine. I have an Oster. It wasn't too expensive, and it's not too fancy. And it makes bread. That's all I need.

When using dry active yeast, it's important that the yeast not touch the wet ingredients until the mixing begins. So, pour the water in, and then follow with all of the dry ingredients.

Flour