Category: BRUNCH

Apple Fritters

I am looking forward to seeing you at Comfy Cook and at My Sweet and Savory.
Don’t forget
MyMeatlessMondays
I made these fritters or pancakes during the holiday of Passover which is why I  used potato starch.  I would guess, you can sub in AP flour.  Apples, especially cooked are delicious and some of my best desserts are made with apples.  These fritters could have been blueberry, banana, peaches or whatever your favorite fruit is but apples felt right to me. These make a good breakfast, lunch, snack or even light dinner.  They are easy to make and good to eat.
Apple Fritters – Passover Style
Ingredients:
4 apples, sliced, chopped or shredded
4 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup potato starch
oil to fry in

Method:
Place oil in large skillet (12 inch).

I tried slicing the apples first because I like the fritters to be chunky but they would not fry consistently so I changed over to putting them in the food processor with the eggs, beating the eggs and chopping the apples, at the same time.
Add sugar, potato starch and cinnamon to to egg mix.
Mix well.
Drop by tablespoons or if you have a cookie scoop (small) use that and drop batter into hot skillet.
Brown on both sides.
Remove onto paper towels to drain.
Eat or place into baking pan for later use.
Enjoy!

RICOTTA PANCAKES

  2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  2 teaspoons baking powder
  1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  2 large eggs, separated
  2 cups milk
  1/2 cup ricotta, well drained
  1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • Set ricotta in a fine mesh strainer about 30 minutes before you start cooking, to drain off excess liquid.
  • Whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
  • Combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks and vanilla in a separate bowl.
  • Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta and milk mixture, stirring gently until just combined.
  • Whisk in a small amount of the egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining whites.
  • Heat a griddle over medium-high heat, and brush the surface with butter.
  • Use a ladle or measuring scoop to pour batter onto the griddle. Cook pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes, then flip, cooking until both sides are golden brown.
  • Spread lemon curd between pancakes and dust with powdered sugar or serve with syrup and/or fruit.

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Paula’s Smashed Potato Pancakes

I had blueberry pancakes, the other day, and they were delicious which brought me to thinking of making June, pancake month at Cooking with Chaya.  Everyone loves pancakes and there are so many variations on the simple pancake.
I am starting with Paula Deen’s Smashed Potato Pancakes.
Smashed Potato Cake Paula Deen About 14 cakes
6 cups cubed (1-inch) Yukon gold potatoes
1/2 cups panko, divided I used about one cup of corn meal
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar
1/2 cup cooked and crumbled bacon not kosher
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup butter was not necessary for us
1/4 cup sour cream
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Method:
In a large pot, combine potatoes and add water to cover.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer 10 to 12 minutes, or until tender.
Drain well and mash.
In a large bowl, combine potatoes, cornmeal, egg, cheese, onion, butter, sour cream, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Form potatoes into 3-inch patties; dredge in remaining panko.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.
Add potato patties, and cook, 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until brown and crisp.
Serve immediately.

BAKED EGG & HAM CUPS

BAKED EGG & HAM CUPS

PER PERSON
4 slices deli ham
2 eggs
grated cheddar cheese
  • Preheat oven 400 degrees.
  • Spray a muffin pan with PURE.
  • Place pan in oven to heat.
  • Line each muffin slot with 2 slices of ham.
  • Crack an egg into each ham cup.
  • Salt and pepper.
  • Bake 10 minutes.
  • Top with cheese.
  • Bake 5 more minutes.

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BAKED EGG & HAM CUPS

BAKED EGG & HAM CUPS

PER PERSON
4 slices deli ham
2 eggs
grated cheddar cheese
  • Preheat oven 400 degrees.
  • Spray a muffin pan with PURE.
  • Place pan in oven to heat.
  • Line each muffin slot with 2 slices of ham.
  • Crack an egg into each ham cup.
  • Salt and pepper.
  • Bake 10 minutes.
  • Top with cheese.
  • Bake 5 more minutes.

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CROQUE MADAME at ALWAYS EAT ON THE GOOD CHINA

Chris over at Nibble Me This made Croque Madame recently. It intrigues me so much I have been researching its origins and thought I’d share with you. I LOVE wikipedia – if you have a question, they have an answer!
To understand the Croque Madame we need a bit of history. A croque-monsieur is a hot ham and cheese grilled sandwich. The most typical cheese is gruyère. It originated in France as a fast-food snack served in cafés and bars. More elaborate versions come coated in a Mornay or Béchamel sauce. The name is based on the verb croquer (“to crunch”) and the word monsieur (“mister”)—the reason behind the combination of the two words is unclear—and is colloquially shortened to croque. While the origins of the croque-monsieur are unknown, there are many speculations on how it was first originated. The croque-monsieur’s first recorded appearance on a Parisian café menu was in 1910. Its earliest published use has been traced back to volume two of Proust’s In search of lost time.
A croque-monsieur served with a fried egg or poached egg on top is known as a croque-madame. The noted French chef Jacques Pepin also makes a version using chicken instead of ham, which he demonstrated in the “Our Favorite Sandwiches” episode on the PBS series (and its coordinating cookbook of the same title) Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home in which he worked with Julia Child. Many dictionaries attribute the name to the egg resembling an old fashioned woman’s hat. According to the Petit Robert dictionary, the name dates to around 1960.

So head on over to ALWAYS EAT ON THE GOOD CHINA for this great and easy recipe!

French Market Beignet Doughnuts – Real ones this Time



Look Closely…


Photo above…


And Below…





Remember last week…


Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. I was ashamed that I declared… I CAN COOK THAT! But then, who couldn’t???  I actually bragged about opening a tube of dough and whipping cheater Beignets off in a matter of minutes.


I was ashamed, the guilt was over powering and I confessed… Today I want to finish the cycle of penance and give an authentic recipe for those delightful little breakfast snacks.

Fortunately, Mary at DEEP SOUTH DISH, had already provided a recipe for FRENCH MARKET BEIGHET DOUGHNUTS on her site!


Anyone who has ever visited New Orleans has a warm spot in their heart for these beauties.  Been a goal for awhile to learn to make authentic French market (OK, Cafe du monde) style Beignets.  Here’s Mary’s recipe…

French Market Beignet Doughnuts
Posted at http://www.deepsouthdish.com

1 envelope of yeast
1/4 cup of warm water
4 cups of sifted flour
2 tablespoons of shortening
1/3 cup of boiling water
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of evaporated milk
1 egg, beaten
Powdered sugar, sifted

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside. Sift the flour and set aside. Pour the boiling water over the shortening and stir until the shortening is melted.

Preheat deep fryer to 360 degrees. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of the sifted flour with the sugar and salt, melted shortening, milk, egg, and yeast mixture. Add enough additional flour to form a shaggy dough. Sometimes you will need all of the flour, sometimes you’ll need less – depends on the weather, rain, humidity, etc. in my opinion! Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll thin – somewhere between 1/4-inch and 1/8-inch thick. Using a  pizza wheel, cut the dough into 2-inch squares. Drop into hot fryer and brown on one side until golden, flip and brown on the other side. Remove and drain on paper towels, sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar and serve immediately with a cup of café au lait.

Makes between 30 and 40, depending on how thick you roll them.


I did cut the recipe in half, made plenty for the two of us…



And they came out great…



My penance is now complete, I can indeed cook authentic scratch Beignets.

FLUFFY BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

As my good friend Martha over at Menagerie tells me, storm days are perfect “CAVE” days. Days to just snuggle in and do nothing or better yet ONLY what you WANT to do! Today is one of those days as we batten down the hatches for what they tell us will be a “significant late season storm“. The temperature has dropped almost 20 degrees and the wind is blowing almost 60 miles an hour so I decided brunch was in order – a comfort brunch that is. Hot, fluffy buttermilk pancakes! Hubby likes to top them with molasses, but I love my homemade maple syrup.

The key to fluffy pancakes is not to over mix the batter.
Do NOT beat it smooth. You should have some small lumps.

FLUFFY BUTTERMILK PANCAKES
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

  • Heat griddle to 375 degrees.
  • Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar into a medium bowl.
  • Add eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
  • Using a 1/2 cup measure, pour pancake batter about 2 inches away from each other.
  • When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over.
  • Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
  • Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes warm.
  • Serve with homemade maple syrup.

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STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE




Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker is our Friday baker at OUR KrAzY kitchen. She posted a recipe for Sour cream coffee cake last week that is one that she is trying to duplicate from her SIL. It looked and sounded like my grams old recipe that I told her I’d dig out grams recipe for her and then I decided to go a step further and make it and do a post to highlight the good and yummy flavors. You get a light fluffy cake and ooey gooey streusel – YUMMY!

Grams old recipe calls for Bisquick and I no longer use it for health reasons, but make my own so I will include that recipe too.

STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE
CAKE
2 cups bisquick
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons oil

STREUSEL
1 cup bisquick
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons-2 tablespoons cinnamon(based on flavor preference)
4 tablespoons butter

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Generously spray 9×9 square baking dish with PAM.
  • Mix cake ingredients together until well blended.
  • Spread into baking dish, mixture will be thick.
  • Mix streusel ingredients together until fine crumbles.
  • Spread over the cake. With a knife gently cut a star into the cake to gently press some streusel into the cake.
  • Bake 20-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

HOMEMADE BISQUICK
4 ½ cups sifted flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup powdered milk**

  • Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
  • Sift again 2-3 times in a large bowl.
  • Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is similar to cornmeal.
  • Add dry milk.
  • Use in recipes that call for Bisquick or all-purpose mix.

**you can skip this ingredient if your recipe calls for any kind of milk, not water.
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BANANA RAISIN FRENCH TOAST







BANANA RAISIN FRENCH TOAST
8 slices raisin bread
2 medium ripe bananas
1 cup milk
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 JUMBO eggs
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
powdered sugar garnish

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Spray a 9×9 baking dish with PAM.
  • Layer 4 slices of bread in the bottom.
  • Slice the bananas over the slices of bread.
  • Top with the other 4 slices.
  • In a food processor blend remaining ingredients until smooth consistency and pour over bread.
  • Let stand 5 minutes or overnight.
  • Bake 40-45 minutes or 50-55 minutes (if it was refrigerated) until knife comes out clean.
  • Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting.
  • Sprinkle with powdered sugar and maple syrup.

Next time I will puree the banana layer.

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Beignets – or How to LIE to your Guests

One year… I figure I now owe the cooking gods one full year in purgatory.

To be fair, I got the idea for this from Mary at DEEP SOUTH DISH, one of my all time favorite bloggers (How has she not been found by the Food Network yet???). So, Mary is my Fagin to my innocent Oliver Twist… Mary, for the record, I am easily led astray. Be careful when you put temptation in my path…

A while back, Mary did an excellent post on making your own Beignets. You know, those New Orleans treats most often associated with cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter. Anyone and I suspect everyone who has visited the city knows of and sampled these treats. Squares of sweetened dough (extra sugar and evaporated milk), covered with generous amounts of powdered sugar. You can find her post on making AUTHENTIC Beignets by clicking HERE.

But she also gave a “cheater” version that I thought was funny at the time… And then Eve and the apple and Satan and temptation began working it’s ugly way with me. I had all the supplies on hand to make the legit Beignets. I did. I had company last week that I could make them for and I wanted to. I wanted to be authentic… I should have been authentic… But I wasn’t.

Get thee behind me Satan is what I should have said…

Temptation, thy name is DEEP SOUTH DISH MARY.

I beg for absolution. I beg the gods for forgiveness… As a penance, I must confess in full…

Here’s what I did…

Oil for frying…
Powdered sugar for generously dusting

and..

I can’t say it…

But I must confess in full…

and…

the final ingredient is…

A tube of refrigerator buttermilk biscuits.

I am so ashamed.

What would Bobby Flay say??? Paula Dean… Alton Brown… All would condemn me, and justifiably so.

But Bobby, Paula and Alton, it was so easy… Just cut each biscuit in half…

Fry in the oil and dust with the sugar…

And if you get up on the last morning your guests are staying, after force feeding them RUM Drinks night after night… after night after night; you can make these and hide all the evidence before they stumble out of bed (or floor if that was where they passed out).

I served these, and accepted the praise due a scratch baker. Without exception, these were accepted as authentic Beignets.

I am A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner.

Bobby, Paula and Alton… Bless me chefs for I have sinned.

!Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. I am ashamed that i can declare… I CAN COOK THAT! But then, who couldn’t???


Don’t do as I did… save yourself the guilt. Make from scratch. Ignore the needs of time and the desire to just wanting to get something on the table. The guilt is just not worth the convenience and great taste… Spend those hours in the kitchen. Ignore your family and guests and resist the temptations that are put in front of you.


OK, let me take my tongue out of my cheek for a second and do a little advertising for a GREAT FUN site…


I love bloggers! I was new to the world of blogging (and to cooking) just a few months ago. I went from hamburgers and hot dogs once a month to a 3 meal a day, 7 days a week cook. I needed help, and I found it. I am always thrilled to find new blogs. Without bloggers who provide insight you do not get from books, I would not be as brave as I am in the kitchen. Last month I was introduced to a wonderful opportunity. TASTE & CREATE is a cultural exchange program for bloggers. Click on the logo to the left, but the premise is simple…Once you sign up, monthly, you are paired with another blogger. Hopefully, someone you have never seen before. You take a look at their blog, hunt down a recipe that you find appealing and cook and post the results. You are introduced to a new recipe, and at the same time, because you dig a little deeper into a new blog, you find bits of personal information that gets you a new blogger buddy!


So, at the least, one day out of next month, you will have a topic for your blog. But at best, you get a new blog buddy, you get to try a new recipe and look at blogging from another person’s shoes!


In the next two days, match ups for this month happen. NOW is the time to sign up. Live on the wild side, it is a challenge, and it is rewarding… Contact Min at –

cowgirlmin07@gmail.com
She does the matchups and is handling the cyber paperwork. If you have any questions, drop Min a line. She would be thrilled to have some “New Blood”! It is a month by month commitment. So if you don’t care for the experience, dropping out is easy. But, you may just get hooked like I did… Click HERE to see the fun I had.





HAM & CHEESE QUICHE

I have used this same recipe for traditional quiche for years and adapted it today to use what I had on hand. It was a pleasant success.





1/2 pound diced ham
1 cup finely grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 shallot finely chopped
4 eggs
2 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 deep pie crust

  • Preheat oven to 425°.
  • Pre-bake the pie crust and cool before filling.
  • Lightly saute shallot and ham.
  • Sprinkle the ham and onion and grated swiss cheese evenly into crust.
  • Beat the eggs, whipping cream and seasonings until well blended. Pour over mixture in pie crust.
  • Bake 15 minutes and then reduce heat to 300° and bake an additional 35-45 minutes or until just golden and knife comes out clean.
  • Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

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