Rhubarb Cobbler

Pie plant is the nickname for rhubarb I'm told, but we just as often make it into crisps and cobblers. A few days ago I tried a recipe from Gourmet magazine for ricotta pudding cups with rhubarb on top, but alas I'm the only one in the household willing to eat them! The cobbler I made last night was a huge hit though! And totally easy.

1 1/2 pounds of rhubarb (this was about 4 large stalks for me)
3/4 cup sugar
1 rounded Tbs of flour

Dough:
1 cup flour
3 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 Tbs butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1/2 cup cream or 1/2 and 1/2

Preheat the oven to 400. Slice the rhubarb into 1" pieces and toss in a bowl with the sugar and flour. Lightly oil or butter a pie pan or 8" square baking pan and put the rhubarb into it. Put this in the oven to start cooking while you make the cobbler dough. Set the timer for 10 minutes so you don't forget about it though but a few minutes more or less won't really matter.

I use my big stand mixer for the dough. You could also use your food processor. Or your fingers if you like to rub in the butter.

Stir the flour, sugar, and baking powder together in your mixing bowl. Cut the butter pieces in until the butter pieces are blended and small, about the size of small peas. Add the cream all at once and mix just until blended and a ball of dough forms.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and pat it (or roll it) into a piece just slightly smaller than your baking dish. It doesn't have to be exact. Pull the rhubarb out of the oven and lay the cobbler dough on top of it. Cut a few slits in with it. Mine boiled over so if you have one of those pie trays that go under pies you might want to use one. I have a mess in my oven now.

Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until the cobbler dough is lightly browned and the rhubarb is soft. Poke it a knife to be sure if you have any doubt.

We like leftovers for breakfast!

YABS: Yet Another Barbecue Sauce

I do like making my own barbecue sauces. The bottled ones are a) expensive and b) expensive. My prejudice is showing I suppose. I do buy the bottled ones now and then when they're on sale at rock-bottom prices. I then keep them in the pantry "for emergencies" but I rarely have an emergency that doesn't allow for 2o minutes of mixing up some homemade sauce. I've learned I like ones that start with ketchup, vinegar, and brown sugar. I don't like liquid smoke seasoning. Perhaps if I wasn't actually barbecuing the liquid smoke would be okay but it tastes and smells false to me.

1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar (firmly packed of course!)
2 Tbs butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp steak sauce (like A1)
2 tsp honey
1 tsp mustard (the liquid yellow kind, not the dry)
1/4 tsp or more cayenne

Mix everything together in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer, partially covered to avoid horrid splatters on your stove, about half an hour, stirring frequently.

I cooked ribs to go with this, it being Memorial Day weekend and all.

I went looking for my rib recipe to link to and realized I'd never posted it. I like to do a dry rub of some kind on baby back ribs and then grill over very low indirect heat (less than 300 degrees F) for a few hours. I serve the sauce on the side, rather than risking burning the ribs.

Cheap Eats: A bit of press for CheapCooking.com

I was interviewed last week for an article at the Herald Mail. It's a Maryland paper. I'd love to hear back if anyone who read the article found the site and the blog.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

With the weird weather here, I was torn about what to fix for dinner for my two nieces who came tonight. I started out thinking I'd barbecue but then the forecast was for rain. When I went to the grocery store I saw a 7 blade roast on sale for $5.30, marked down $2. So that was the decision maker: I made Pot Roast with Gravy. But I'd already decided on this salad that looked interesting, so I went ahead and made it, even though it seems more like a summer thing. It was good, very crunchy with the raw broccoli and cauliflower. The dressing was quite simple but had a good taste, albeit a bit sweeter than I normally like. I might go for less sugar and more vinegar next time.

1 cup chopped broccoli florets
1 cup chopped cauliflower florets
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (optional, I left this out)
1 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs vinegar
1/2 cup sugar

Layer the broccoli, cauliflower, Cheddar cheese, bacon, and egg in a bowl. Mix together the mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar. Ladle over the salad and serve.

My guess is that this might be even tastier tomorrow. I have just a bit of leftovers so I'll see.

Fun New Blog: A Food Year

A confession. A while back, okay, back in December, I changed my email address on the web site to an "info" rather than my name, Ellen. Apparently, however, I forgot to actually set up an email account in my mail client to check that new email! Oh my! 600 messages today when I realized my error. 400 of them were spam, of course: the joys of having your email out on a web site. Another huge chunk were spam-like link requests. The rest were great though: thank you's, recipes, questions, and a few people letting me know about their new blogs and sites they thought I might like. This is one of them.

http://www.afoodyear.com/2006/05/19/ is the site where Ken Sloan documents his plan to eat a different food every day for a year. It's a fun collection of recipes, complete with photos, which I sorely lack on my own site. He's even got a great calendar http://www.afoodyear.com/2006/05/ section so you can scan for ideas. It's a nice touch to have his write-ups separate from his recipes, so you can print the recipes cleanly if you'd like to try them.

Mercury in Fish

Anyone know anything about these guys http://www.fishscam.com/? I'd love to believe what they say, that I can eat more fish safely. And I have in inherent distrust of the media to tell me much more than the latest scare stories, which is where I picked up my mercury fears.

Leftovers -- What do You Do with Them?

Leftovers. They're the bane and the prize of cooking! I hate plain old leftovers, except sometimes for lunch. In fact, certain things I treasure for lunches, since I work out of my home. But trying to use up leftovers and make them something other than "leftovers" for dinner is a challenge.

Leftover rice and some kind of meat can become fried rice. That's an easy one.

Leftover meat, chopped up, with some refried beans and cheese can become burritos.

Leftover beef, diced potatoes and some gravy can become hash.

Various things can go into quiche or omelets.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things. But tonight I turned the leftover pork into some great sandwiches. I fried up some red peppers and onions first for my sandwich, although I left them off the kids.

I split open some French rolls and spread them with some mustard, plus some horseradish sauce on mine. I laid some thin slices of pork down on one side of the roll and spread some avocado on the other half and topped it with slices of Cheddar or provolone. I added some of the pepper and onion slices to my own, then slid them under the broiler for a few minutes.

I served some raw carrots, sliced red peppers, and endame on the side. It was a fantastic dinner. Sometimes I think of sandwiches as not really "real" food, you know? But with just a bit of attention they come together and make a meal.

Yogurt Marinated Chicken in a Food Saver

Am I the last person to buy a FoodSaver? Everyone seems to assume I've had one for years somehow, but I'm not generally a big fan of gadgets. But I broke down and bought one a few weeks ago and have been enjoying freezing meats and sealing up cheese to avoid spoilage. So far, so good! If you don't have one yet, here's a link to Save $10 off any FoodSaver.com order of $80 or more! Offer Expires 06-30-06.

Yesterday at Target I found a marinader. Supposedly the act of being under the vacuum pressure causes the food to absorbs the marinade faster. The canister is not cheap ($20 at Target for a 9" square one) but if it helps me get a flavorful dinner on the table in a hurry some nights, I'm all for trying it. If I avoid one delivered pizza I've paid for it!

I have a few yogurt marinades I've used on chicken but decided to try the one on the FoodSaver site itself, which is also full of FoodSaver Uses and Tips. It turned out quite good.

1 Tbs oil
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp coriander
1/4 cup diced onion (I used about an 1/8 cup dried onion flakes)
1/2 cup yogurt
2 Tbs lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Heat the oil in a small skillet and stir in the cumin, paprika, and coriander. Cook, stirring, for a minute or two, then let cool. In a small bowl mix together the diced onion, yogurt, lime juice, salt, and oil/spice mixture. Put the chicken into a container or a bag or whatever dish you want to use, then pour the marinade on and turn the chicken so it's evenly coated.

If you're using a FoodSaver thingy, you can vacuum seal it and then let it marinade for 15-20 minutes. Otherwise I would do this in the morning and let it sit in the frig all day marinating. I have to say, I used the FoodSaver thingy and marinated it about half an hour and it was very flavorful!

You could, of course, bake the chicken at 350 for 10 minutes or so. I chose to grill it, along with my skewered marinated vegetables from the last post. I didn't actually time it. Probably about 10 minutes total, turning halfway through. I always cut into chicken to ensure it's done.

The kids each picked out their favorite vegetables, of course, but they did eat them willingly enough. I was told by my oldest, however, that I could cook green beans every night and she'd much rather eat those. Youngest loved the mushrooms though. And I've got just enough chicken, rice, and vegetables to make myself a nice lunch one day!

Skewered Vegetables

I came home from the grocery store loaded with vegetables and fruits. Something about this great summer weather. I cut up some strawberries, pineapple and apple so the girls could easily pack some fruit salad for lunches. The pineapple is just perfect! I kept nibbling on pieces as I worked.

I also brought home a red pepper, mushrooms, yellow crookneck squash, green zucchini, cabbage, jicama, and bean sprouts. Not sure what it will all show up in yet but for dinner tonight I marinated and then skewered and grilled:

mushrooms
red bell pepper
onions
yellow crookneck squash
green zucchini

For a marinade, I used a bottled Italian dressing I had opened. Had I not had anything opened I would have done something with olive oil, vinegar (maybe balsamic) and various herbs. There's a recipe up on FoodSaver.com that looks good. As it was, I just cut the vegetables up into chunks, leaving the mushrooms whole, and marinated a few hours in the vinaigrette I had.

Fantastic!