Making Applesauce

So at the last time that -I- went to the Farmer's Market (now sadly closed), one of the things that I had gotten was a bag of apples. Flash forward to last Monday, and we noticed that there was a most decidedly smushed apple in that bag, polluting all of the others. Mister said "oh we should throw that out" and I said "nah, I was gonna make applesauce anyways".

I chopped the apples on Tuesday, but then got home too late to cook them. So Wednesday morning, I popped them in a saucepan, put some water in there, and covered it. And last night I finally did get a chance to put it on the stove.

I added cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cardamom and a little too much sugar (:-(). But my 3 lbs. of apples turned into a quart of applesauce.

Yay for applesauce!

Now we need to go buy pork, as I only eat applesauce with pork, and I have two jars of applesauce that my grandma made sitting on the shelf as well. :-P

Also, since I'm a cheat, I made sure that the jar was hot (by repeated filling with near boiling if not boiling water), the applesauce was hot (reached a boil), and upended the jar to try and make a seal. If it doesn't seal, it'll just go in the fridge. But I don't want to pull out a full water bath for one little jar of applesauce.

Hollandaise Sauce

The Hollandaise that was poured over Asparagus was thrown together by me, under N's tutelage.

We started with two eggs beaten really well. We used a small whisk, in the pan that we were to cook the sauce in. While whisking, some mayonnaise was added (although no recipes call for it, mayo already has an emulsifier, and the sauce will not curdle. Thanks N!). We also added some lime juice. We added a stick of melted butter, whisking all the while, a little at a time. We then left it for a bit, while tending to the rest of the meal.

5 mins before needing the sauce, we got a pot of water boiling, and put our little pot of sauce INSIDE the pot of water, and whisked. The sauce was beaten continuously until thickened. When thickened, it was taken off heat, and poured over the asparagus.

This was amazing. It was easier than I imagined it being, and I will definately be making this again.

Mushroom Gravy

The mushroom gravy that we poured over our steak on Saturday, Mister made under N (his uncle's SO)'s tutelage. It started with a dark roux.

Melt butter in a saucepan, and throw in some flour. Mix it together well, and turning the heat up, toast the flour. You'll want it fairly dark (almost coffee colored), and when the butter no longer melds with the flour, that's where you want it. Turn the heat down a bit, and add more flour and more butter if necessary. You'll need it to be a sauce again. Mixing it on the heat, add a little bit of water. You can now set it on the back burner to do what you need with the rest of your meal.

Note: this is the basic part -- we also thought that this gravy would make an amazing stroganoff -- we shall find out soon!

At this point, we also added sliced baby bellas and a generous amount of cabernet. Later on, when we wanted to actually eat this sauce, we added cream to the consistency that we wanted, and spices. Salt, pepper, and a "Moroccan Spice Blend" that clearly had turmeric, cumin, and paprika. It was at this point that we took it off the heat, and put it in a gravy boat.

Folks, this was the tastiest gravy I've ever had, and I don't eat mushrooms OR gravy. MAKE THIS GRAVY TODAY.

Lots of Food!

Although I haven't been posting of late, I've been taking lots of pics. It's to the point that when I set a dish on the table, and go running for the camera, Mister goes "No! I want to eat this, and I want to eat this now! Are you going to delay my eating this?!"

So first up, is the Zucchini/Ricotta Cheesecake, or, as Mister has dubbed it: "Zu-quiche-y" (feel free to add your own spelling... as that looks retarded).



Isn't that beautiful? I am in love with the way that looks. I also added a WW crust to make it more quiche-like. However, if I was to make it again, I would play around with different flavors. This particular one has dill and lemon zest -- was not a fan of that combo. Perhaps some warmer spices now that we're heading to fall -- coriander and bay? But bay works best when infused... perhaps bay-infused olive oil? I'll have to play.



So, all in all, tasty, but redesigning is due.

Next up for food is the Bacon/Cheese Scones.



A couple of notes on this recipe as it turned out. Firstly, there were three substitutions. We only had WW flour in the house, so in it went. As I was using a ghetto kitchen and a) didn't feel up to cutting in butter and b) added the eggs before the butter 'cause I'm an idiot, I melted the butter before adding it. Also, I am not a fan of swiss, so I used Extra Sharp Cheddar. (This one was not a surprise to Mister, as I left the recipe up. So while I'm mixing away in the kitchen, he goes "Are you going to use the Marigaux?" "What?" "It calls for Swiss. Are you using the Marigaux?" "Oh no. I'm using cheddar!" "Oh, ok.")

This was a very tasty recipe, but if I were to do it again, I would probably add more STUFF. More bacon (I used half a pound and could barely taste it), more cheese, and probably more butter. The WW flour added a nice touch, and I have no complaints on that front (although it may be the cause of my need for more dairy).

And here's where my week of food fell awry. Thursday, after having the most productive day of my life on Wednesday (don't ask how much laundry I did. Really, don't), and getting up early to make scones and then go to a doctor's appt., I then goofed off the rest of the day with a friend M. So when Mister came home from work and was like OMGSTARVING I had nothing even close to ready to be cooked. And I was a little over the joy of cooking, so I suggested that we eat out. This lead to an hour of nothing. Of me going "HUNGER" and him going "THINKING" and nothing actually happening. This lead to us going out to a place down the street which wasn't what he wanted, but it was there, and the both of us being in kind of bad moods.

I have never had such a clear delineation of why a meal plan is such a good idea. Wednesday was beautiful and wonderful, and Thursday was hell on wheels. So back to the grindstone it was!



While kicking around the house Friday, I dried in a low oven some rose hips that I had gathered.

Friday I was working in the evening, but I had planned Lasagne Tart. So I prepped and got it all set for Mister to pop in the oven when he got home (and he was going to bring me some at work). I even took WIP pics!



Having sliced the zucchini (on the cheese slicer part of my box grater -- never again slicing with a knife!), and tossed it with salt, it is draining.



Had some leftover crust from the ZuQuiche-y, so rolled it out for the tart. Note to self, WW flour sucks in a crust. It was hell. Literally. And the fact that I was using an empty Brandy bottle for a rolling pin... (Mister was like, "Most people go out and get a rolling pin!" I was like "well, most people learned how to make do when you're in the middle of doing something!")



The layering went off without a hitch, and here it is, ready to go into the oven.



Here it is after being cooked and nommed. Thoughts on this recipe: omit the crust. Unnecessary, and wound up not being overly tasty. ... I think that's it. It was very tasty overall.

This weekend we went out a fair amount (mostly because I love going out for Breakfast and such), and we've made a goal to not eat out this week. It is also Mister's turn to cook this week. He offered, and I accepted. We'll see how that goes.

Pasta Sauce

Mister and I made the most delicious pasta sauce last night. Well, I suppose we just edited an already good one, as we did start with a jar of sauce to begin with. I just took some pictures of the ingredients as I'm one of the cool kids now.

We started with one unopened, and one mostly gone jar of sauce.



(Note, as I took the photo today, that is actually filled with our new sauce.)

Mister got the sauce warming up while I chopped a cute, little red onion that I bought at the Farmer's Market yesterday,



And threw it in a pan with some olive oil (the bottle on the left in the picture).



I let it cook down until soft and translucent, then threw in some 80/20, grass-fed, ground beef. (No pic -- it was not a pretty color anyways.)

While this was going on, Mister was carefully tending his tomato sauce and added some bay leaf, and ground all-spice. (There is also our pepper grinder in the photo -- it was used later.)



When the ground beef was cook thoroughly, we combined the two.



Now, since I'm a simple cook, I went "meat and sauce = tasty!" and I would have left it there. But oh no, that wasn't enough for Mister. It still needed something. So he tinkered with the spices. Added pepper. Added more All-Spice. Added some of the extra tasty olive oil (the bottle on the right from the pic above). And then he started talking about how if only we had wine. I said 'no'. He continued: "Maybe we could add some of your Grape Mulled Cider." I said, "no". He went on: "I know! We should add bourbon!" When I tried to put my foot down again and tell him to leave tastiness alone, he went and fetched the bottle...



... and proceeded to do a little test with a smidge of bourbon, and a smidge of sauce. He mixed, went OMG and passed the spoon. I agreed it wasn't bad (like I was expecting), but that he certainly wasn't allowed to put that much in. He agreed, and stirred in 1/8 c. bourbon. Finis! We let it simmer for a bit, let it cool for a bit, and then packed it back into its jars (it nearly filled both of them), and put it in the fridge.

... so now I REALLY REALLY want to make pasta and sauce. Especially because Mister's at work and it'd be ALL MINE!

Ham Steak with Red-Eye Gravy

Ingredients:

-- 1 1/2 tsp. unsalted butter
-- 1 fully cooked ham steak (~2 lbs), sliced 1/4" - 1/2" thick
-- 1 c. brewed coffee
-- 1/2 c. heavy cream
-- salt and pepper

Melt butter in a large skillet over med. high heat. Add the steak and saute until nicely browned, 3-5 mins. each side. Remove to a warmed platter and season with pepper to taste.

Return skillet to heat. Add coffee and boil, stirring, until it turns slightly red. Add cream, reduce the heat, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 mins. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

[taken from Joy of Cooking: All About Breakfast & Brunch by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker]