Lots of good looking stuff over there in addition to the excellent list in that one post.

Hope you enjoy!

Bierocks or Runzas: Meat Stuffed Bread

I was thumbing through old magazines as I was decluttering and came upon an Old Cooking Light magazine that had a section on Mennonite recipes. I’ve never eaten these bierocks anywhere else, but the recipe reminded me of the piroshkis we used to pick up sometimes for dinner in Sonoma, where I grew up.  These were a bit different somehow in flavor, and also that my dough here was thicker and there less filling.  They are good though and made a nice easy lunch to pack for my daughter, when combined with some fruit.

First start the dough:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, beaten lightly
• 4 cups flour

The recipe called for bread flour but I just used regular unbleached flour and increased the yeast by 1/4 tsp. Seemed to work great.

Whisk together the sugar, yeast and water. Let sit for 5 minutes to “proof” (meaning to check and make sure your yeast is active before you waste any more ingredients!)  (I keep my yeast in the freezer and just keep a small jar in the frig that I replenish from the freezer periodically. This greatly extends the life. And the price of a seemingly endless bag of yeast at the big box store versus buying individual packets makes it well worth trying! If you have a friend to split the bag with, even better!)  The yeast, sugar and water should start to bubble just a bit.

Stir in the milk, oil, 1/4 tsp salt and eggs. I use my KitchenAid mixer with a bread hook to mix up bread so I proofed everything in the mixing bowl, then added the other ingredients.  Put about 3 cups of the flour into the bowl and turn the mixer on to a low setting. (High settings cause lots of flour to explode all over your counters!)  Let the mixer incorporate most of the ingredients together then add the last cup of flour, about 1/4 cup at a time until it pulls away and makes a nice elastic-looking ball. Keep the mixer on for 5 more minutes or so. (You can of course do this by hand.)

Now you want to let the dough rise for about an hour. If your house is warm, you can do this on the counter. If your house is a bit cool, turn your oven onto warm for a few minutes, then turn it off.  Rub a bit of oil in the bottom of a bowl and turn the dough into that bowl, flipping it around and turning it so that all sides are coated very lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

In the meantime, make the filling.

• 1 tsp oil
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/2 pound ground beef or turkey
• 2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
• salt and pepper to taste (1/4 tsp each does it for us)

In a skillet, heat the oil then add the onion and ground meat. Cook,stirring, until the onion is softened and the meat is no longer pink.  Add the cabbage and cook a few more minutes until the cabbage wilts. Salt and pepper the meat mix and set aside to cool, covered.

When the dough has been rising an hour or so, check that it is ready by poking two fingers into it. If the indentations from your fingers remain in the dough, it’s ready!  Punch the dough down, cover and let rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cover a cutting board or counter with a light dusting of flour.

Divide the dough in half and roll one half into a roughly 10 x 7 inch rectangle. Cut this into six squares and place about 1/4 cup of the meat and cabbage mix into the middle of each square. Pull two opposite corners together and pinch together, then do the same with the other two corners. Place seam side down onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Preheat the oven to 375 while you cover the bierocks again and let rise about 20 minutes.

Uncover and bake about 15 minutes. Cool a bit  on wire racks then serve.   Goes great with soup!

Folding the dough over the meat

If you want to freeze them, let them cool completely and wrap each bierock individually in foil, then drop them all into a freezer bag.

Bierock

Cooking Crab Cakes from Leftover Crab

Hopefully you can splurge now and then on some special food, whatever that is for your family. And then if there are leftovers you certainly don’t want to waste them! For us, or at least for me, it’s fresh crab, which is in season right now. It’s our traditional New Year’s Eve dinner and such a treat!  The whole Dungeness crabs were buy one get one free, which is a great deal!  But my eldest got sick and my youngest was off to a party and there was no way I was going to eat two crabs by myself!  I enjoyed the one with some cocktail sauce (homemade) mixed with some mayonnaise on New Year’s Eve, then picked the meat out of the extra one yesterday. Today I made crab cakes for dinner, making 4 good size crab cakes from 1 crab, less than 1/2 pound.  Mix this together about 45 minutes before you want to eat, then refrigerate half an hour before shaping and frying.   Mix up the cocktail sauce or tartar sauce while you’re waiting.

• 1/2 pound lump crab meat (about one small crab’s worth)
• 1 egg
• 1/8 cup minced red bell pepper (optional, my kids would like it better without)
• 1/4 cup minced green onions
• 2 Tbs mayonnaise
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbs vegetable oil
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1/2 cup flour for dredging
• lemon wedges at serving

Mixing up Crab Cakes

Mix the crabmeat, egg, bell pepper if using, green onions, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper and bread crumbs.  You need enough bread crumbs to hold the mixture together but you want the crab cake to be mostly crab so start with a tablespoon at a time and mix it together, adding a spoonful now and then and stop as soon as it holds itself together. Refrigerate 30 minutes or so.

Put the flour in a small shallow plate or dish and season with salt and pepper as you’d like. Some folks add curry powder. I did not.

Heat a large skillet and add the butter and oil, swirling the pan around until well coated after the butter melts.

Shape the mixture into 4 crab cakes, one at a time, dredging in flour and then adding to the pan. Cook about 4-5 minutes, turn, and then cook the other side another 4-5 minutes or so.

Via $5 Dollar Dinner Mom’s post on her own January Monthly Meal Plan I found Once a Month Mom and her fantastic freezer inventory sheet that you can download and use.

January is a great time to start some new habits and keeping an accurate inventory and using that list when you’re planning your meals is sure to help in your quest for Cheap Cooking.

Chicken Cutlets

I’m just guessing but I’m thinking Chicken Parmesan came about when someone like me made too many chicken cutlets.  You can turn them into pretty good chicken sandwiches (why else would they sell frozen breaded chicken patties?) and even Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches.

But I think the classic dish for leftover chicken cutlets has to be Chicken Parmesan. A while back I had made too many chicken cutlets and froze the extras.

Chicken Parmesan from Leftover Chicken Cutlets

Tonight I used up the last with some fantastic Chicken Parmesan. I thawed the leftovers just enough to separate them, then laid them in a shallow baking dish. I put a slice of mozzarella cheese on top of most of them, poured some reheated marinara sauce from the freezer on top, like this or this.  I topped with some grated Parmesan cheese and baked at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

During that time, I made a small Caesar salad and cooked up some angel hair pasta.  A perfect combo and a great way to use up some of my frozen assets.

How to Freeze Ground Beef

If you’re going to freeze ground beef, or other things, you want to have as little air as possible touching the meat. (Note: It does not affect the safety of the food, just the quality.)  The vacuum sealer things help out with this, of course, and I bought one a few years back when I was cooking for more folks.  I use it much less often these days but since the initial investment is made, it’s worthwhile to keep using it.

One trick I’ve learned with things like raw ground meat is that a flatter bag is easier to store AND much faster to thaw.  When I have raw ground meat to freeze, I seal the bag with enough room to press the meat flat. It really is much easier to store that way and if you’re in a hurry, you can throw a thin package of meat into a sink of cold water and it thaws out quite quickly.

If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, you can follow the same general principle. Put the raw meat into a freezer bag and press out as much air as possible before/while sealing. Then flatten the bag out.

If you’re new to trying to save money in the kitchen and need to learn how to shop wisely, take advantage of sales, plan menus and the like, you’ll love the front section of this book. I skimmed through that part because that’s pretty much what I’ve been writing about on CheapCooking.com for over 5 years.  Not that there aren’t some fabulous ideas–there are!  It’s just that I bought the book for the recipes.

The recipe collection is a great one, that will expand your culinary horizons in delightful ways. The migas recipe is one of my favorites so far.  And I know I’m going to be exploring a lot of recipes in this book!  Definitely a worthwhile purchase and a book that will more than earn its keep in my kitchen for many years, I’m sure.

There are a spate of new cookbooks from bloggers these days, but this one belongs near the top for any curious cook. Whether you’re after money-saving ideas, and who isn’t these days, or just want to expand your repertoire in the kitchen, this book fits the bill.

Miso Soup

Tokyo Fried Chicken

Eggplant and Peppers in Miso

Three recipes from Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen tonight.   The tricky part is always timing things.  The Zojirushi 6 Cup Rice Cooker / Steamer I bought a while ago comes in handy here, as I don’t particularly have to worry about the timing of the rice so much as when I cook it on the stove.

I thought it might be useful if I sort of detailed how I approached this whole meal first, then gave the individual recipes in separate posts. When I was first learning to cook, I could manage any individual recipe. The trick was learning how to get 3 dishes on the table at the same time! I had 4 recipes I made tonight:

• rice (using a rice cooker simplifies this tremendously, although you can get along without)
• Miso soup
• Eggplant and green peppers cooked with miso
• Tokyo fried chicken

I soaked the eggplant in salted water while I prepared the miso sauce and chopped the green pepper. Set everything aside (on a large dinner plate), while I went onto the next thing I could prep.

Started the Dashi broth (I’m using these instant packets) which meant bringing 3 cups of water to boil, then adding the packet and cooking for 10 minutes. Sliced some green onions to garnish the soup with.

Cut the chicken in bite size pieces and began it marinating in the ginger/soy/mirin mix. in a small bowl. Put some cornstarch in a small bowl.

Peeled and sliced the daikon into matchstick sized slices. Cut some tofu into small cubes.

I placed each of the piles of little things (green pepper, daikon, tofu and green onions) onto a large dinner plate, just separated into piles as I prepped them.

I started a cup or so of canola oil heating in a small saucepan. I wanted the depth and don’t have a wok so I opted for a saucepan so I could get by with using less oil while still having some depth.

At some point the rice needed fluffing and the dashi broth was done. I fluffed the rice, took the dashi bag out of the water and added the sliced daikon into it to simmer for 5 minutes or so.

Drained the eggplant and started frying it. I had the oil too hot so lowered the heat a bit and watched it. Removed the eggplant bits as they were done onto their eventual serving dish, lined with paper towels. Did the eggplant in batches until done. Heated a small saucepan with some oil in it and started the green pepper cooking for a few minutes.

I drained the marinade from the chicken and dropped large spoonfuls at a time into the cornstarch and mixed until coated, then added the chicken to the hot oil.

At some point, I added the tofu into the soup while lowering the heat as I just wanted the tofu to get warmed up.

As the chicken finished, I pulled it out onto a paper towel lined serving dish and then started another batch of chicken frying

When the green peppers had cooked a few minutes, I put the eggplant in the pan and poured the miso sauce I’d mixed up earlier into it and stirred it together.

I stirred the miso paste into the soup during the final batch of chicken.

The rice was done and waiting.

The soup was nearly done, just needed to mix in the miso paste.

The eggplant and pepper dish was done.

I finished the last batch of chicken and dinner was ready!

I’m linking to the individual recipes as I post them, but I just thought this might help someone learning how to pull multiple dishes together. Basically, I looked first for what I could that could wait. Prep all the vegetables, marinade the chicken, get the cornstarch ready, make the dashi broth, make the miso sauce for the eggplant (which was delicious, by the way!). Then I thought about what could wait. Rice, especially in a rice cooker, can wait. Soup, to a point, can wait. I figured the one thing that really needed to be served fresh was the chicken so  I backtracked from that. Even the eggplant and peppers could wait a bit.

laying out the wrap

My eldest packed this for lunch for her first day of school. We bought some wraps and spread flavored cream cheese (chive and onion in this case but we often just use the “veggie” one), baby spinach leaves, grated carrots, chopped olives and turkey.

Spread the cream cheese on the wrap first, then lay out the ingredients you like. For mine, I added some Major Grey’s chutney.

Roll it up tightly starting at one the narrow end. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate if you’re going to slice it up.

It’s somehow more appetizing when cut into smaller pieces but that’ s strictly optional.

We serve these as appetizers at large holiday dinners to tide folks over until the big meal. We like to add some spicy stuff to some and keep a few vegetarian. Add sliced red peppers if you like ‘em and any thing else that sounds good!

We packed these for lunch today and my eldest thought they were good. I found them a bit bland but I think it’s because of the wrap we used rather than the ingredients. I like things with a bit more kick to them that she does though so for kids who like things plainer, these are great.

I was sent a review copy of this book. So full disclosure, we do NOT eat out near as much as the average family, which is 3 times or more per week according to the press release they sent me with the review copy.  So my review is not based on how “accurate” these recipes copy certain dishes but how they tasted.  And so far so good with one minor exception.

The first recipe we tried was from the Olive Garden, for Chicken Crostina. This has you cook  some boneless skinless chicken breasts in olive oil, then top with a mixture of shredded potatoes, Parmesan, garlic powder, parsley, and bread crumbs and put under the broiler for a few minutes, until the potatoes are cooked. This in itself was fantastic. And it worked well as leftovers, believe it or not. We just nuked the leftover chicken with some topping. Mmmm.  The full recipe called for a sauce of roasted garlic, white wine, cream (I used half and half), Parmesan, parsley and diced tomatoes. The pasta and sauce was so-so. I found it bland. The girls found it “winey.”  Perhaps using fresh garlic rather than roasted would kick it up a notch.  More something was needed anyway.

My youngest asked me to try the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe next but I don’t have a pressure fyer, which the book said was key. So I did what I normally do for recipes. I took the “gist” of the KFC recipe, in terms of soaking in buttermilk (except I used sour cream thinned with some milk) and egg, then dipped in the flour and mix of 10 spices (flour, oregano, chili powder, sage, basil, marjoram, pepper, salt, paprika, onion salt, and garlic powder. I omitted the Accent because I don’t ever use that because I have reactions to it. )

Then I used the cooking method in the same cookbook for Church’s fried chicken. We don’t have Church’s around here but I can attest that the cooking method works great! Basically, you dip the chicken pieces in whatever–I used the KFC variant of egg and sour cream rather than buttermilk, the Church’s recipe in here calls for just egg and water. (The spice mix for Church’s is  self rising flour, cornstarch, seasoned salt, paprika, baking soda, biscuit mix, Italian dressing mix, and onion soup mix.) So I used the KFC mix mentioned above, but cooked it a la Church’s.

Basically fry in hot oil skin side down about 5 minutes, then turn and cook a few more minutes, then put on a foil lined pan and  cover 3 sides (so steam can escape) and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, remove the foil and bake another 5 minutes.

Oh yum!  Turned out great! I served with mashed potatoes and gravy I made from the drippings from frying the chicken so it had all those nice spices in it.  I actually did measure the oil, wondering how much oil the chicken would absorb when I was frying it, since we do try to be moderately healthy around here. I had cut up a whole chicken into legs, wings with meat, thighs, and breasts then cut the breasts in half so basically had 10 pieces.  I started with 1 cup of canola oil and ended up with over 3/4 of a cup after. Then I used 1/4 cup of it for the gravy, which made about 2 cups.

The recipes cover quite a range of restaurants and are well written and easy to follow.

How to Make Gravy for Chicken:

If you’ve cut up a whole chicken as I did, since whole chickens were .79/pound and the cut up ones were over $3/pound, use the neck and gizzards and such to make the broth for the gravy while the chicken is baking.  (If your family doesn’t eat wings, use those as well.)  Just cover the chicken parts with water and simmer. If you have a bit of onion and/or carrot and/or celery add it with some salt and pepper.  Simmer while the chicken is baking and use the broth for the gravy.

Heat 1/4 cup of the drippings in the same pan you fried the chicken. Add 1/4 cup flour while cooking over medium heat. Stir until absorbed and then cook another few minutes, stirring around. Add 1.5 to 2 cups chicken broth (or chicken bouillon and water) slowly, stirring it in until you have it a bit more runny than you like, then cook it down a bit, stirring. Allow about 5-10 minutes at the end for making the gravy. If you want milk gravy, use 1/2 broth and 1/2 milk for the liquid.

Really a great dinner, served with mashed potatoes and a green salad with avocados and tomatoes.