8/29/09

6 Roast Beef Dinner: Cooking Under Pressure

Pressure Cooker Roast Beef PotatoesWhen I saw Norah's Recipes for Pressure Cooker BBQ'd Beef, I was delighted.

I have to admit, I do have a pressure cooker that I received as a wedding gift.

I have to admit, I haven't used it that much. Only for potatoes and carrots.





I climbed into the 'black hole' of my cabinet and saw the pressure cooker.

It looked sad.
Lonely.
Dusty.







I browned an almost 3 pound roast in a couple tablespoons of oil, seasoned it with onion powder, (didn't have an onion handy) salt and pepper and majoram.

I sliced some carrots and threw them in with 2 c. of beef broth.

Closed the lid, and turned the stove on high.


This cooker is different than the one I saw my mom use.

It has a safety feature on it that locks the lid when it comes to a full steam.

Once it hits full steam, I can turn down the heat, say, medium low and cook this roast for 30-35 minutes.






After 35 minutes, I turned the stove off and opened my round thingy to let off the steam.

I wish my body had one of those round thingys to let off steam. Wait. I do.


Anyways, I threw in some halved red potatoes, 1/4 c. water, and brought it back up to steam.

Cooked for 5 minutes, turned the stove off and opened the round steam thingy.


Are you impressed? I am. The beef was moist, juicy, tender and full of flavor. Pressure cooking uses less water, therefore it retains more flavor and moisture....Yum!

I turned the liquid into a gravy that complimented the meal quite nicely.

If you want a cut of beef to shred, choose a chuck, pot roast or brisket and you'll have a quick shredded beef recipe to use in enchiladas or BBQ Beef.

Thanks, Norah, for inspiring me to pull out and use my pressure cooker!
Roast Beef & Potatoes Pressure Cooker
(4x6 recipe)    (full page recipe)

8/26/09

8 BBA: Kaiser Rolls...topless

Kaiser RollsThis is the 16th bread in the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge, hosted by Pinch My Salt. I have always been intrigued by the star shaped pattern that defines a Kaiser roll.

PR uses a pre-ferment to improve the flavor and texture of these rolls of these white flour rolls.




I did not use diastatic barley malt powder, but just found a store in SLC that sells it. I will be buying it on Friday and trying these rolls again, just to see if there is a difference.

I doubled the batch, weighed them in 4 oz. portions and ended up with 15 large rolls roughly 4" across and 1.5 " high.

I used the rosette or love knot technique that I demonstrated earlier with my favorite hamburger buns, which is a honey whole wheat roll.

The Fresh Loaf shows another technique to forming these rolls.

I checked my sesame seeds and discovered that they were old. Ughhh.
I should have kept them in the freezer.

That reminded me that I also need to keep my poppy seeds in the freezer to keep them fresh. They will go rancid.


Since these rolls were essentially going "topless," I decided to use an egg wash on top to give it some color and shine.

The rolls over-proofed slightly, but did not 'collapse' during baking.

The crumb was moist and tender, with a slight sweet flavor.

Next time, I will not be using the egg wash or the spritzing of the oven to crisp the crust. I prefer a softer roll. It will be interesting to see if diastatic malt powder will make a difference.... stay tuned!




8/22/09

9 Chocolate Peanut Butter & Tin Roof Ice Cream

Tin Roof ice cream Peanut Butter Ice Cream Homemade Hersheys SyrupAnother double scoop of ice cream, please!

This is Chocolate Peanut Butter, with creamy chunks of sweet peanut butter encased in a peanut buttery milk chocolate ice cream. So creamy, it doesn't need eggs in the recipe.

I made this for my Reese's Peanut Butter Cup lovin' brother on his birthday. It is a very intense peanut buttery flavor. While very good and rich, next time, I would make a simple chocolate ice cream (that doesn't have peanut butter in it) and put in the peanut butter patties as an add-in.



The second scoop, Tin Roof ice cream, packed with chocolate covered peanuts and immersed in a deep, dark chocolate swirl. This is made using a custard vanilla ice cream.


This ice cream is right up there with Salted Butter Caramel.

Don't have an ice cream maker? David Lebovitz says that you can make ice cream WITHOUT an ice cream maker, especially when you use a custard (egg) base for your ice cream. Check here to learn how.

This Tin Roof ice cream was so much fun to make and even more fun to eat.



Warm up the milk, sugar, salt and the cream in a saucepan.









Put 1 c. of the cream in a large bowl with a mesh strainer on top.










Whisk together the eggs.










Slowly, add the 1 c. of the warmed milk mixture into the eggs, stirring constantly.








Now you have 'tempered' or a warm egg/milk mixture.










Pour the tempered eggs into the warmed milk mixture, whisking constantly.







Stir the mixture over medium heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

Run your finger along the back of the spoon.

Stick your finger in your mouth and taste the delicious sweetness...

Oh yeah...the line on the spoon should stay separated.





Pour the custard base into the cream through the mesh strainer.









The strainer catches any eggs that may have cooked...


I love this strainer. It has been one of the best kitchen gadgets I have ever owned....





Pour the custard into a container to put in the fridge to chill.

Here's vanilla chillin' next to the chocolate peanut butter...they may become best friends!







Whoops.

I forgot...er...remembered to add the vanilla.

This recipe uses a vanilla bean, which I have yet to discover.




Now for the chocolate covered peanuts.

Since I don't have a fancy schmancy double boiler, I use a glass bowl that fits nicely over a pot of simmering, not boiling, water.








Oh, and don't forget a hot pad. The bowl does get hot!








After the chocolate has melted, add some peanuts.

All I had was salted, even though the recipe specifically called for unsalted...

I thought it tasted GREAT....salty....sweet....yum.






Spread the mixture on a plastic wrap lined pan, plate, dish, whatever you have.

Just try to have a single layer.

Freeze. Chill. Go to the next step....

FUDGE RIPPLE

Now, be forewarned. I believe that this is the evil twin of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, which doesn't last long in our fridge. Why? Because my boys routinely use it DAILY to make chocolate milk. After discovering this fudge ripple recipe, I may never buy Hershey's syrup again. It's so simple and easy...





All you need is sugar











light corn syrup








water











unsweetened cocoa powder (from Hershey's of course!)

See, I told you there was an evil twin...







Whisk everything together and heat over medium heat.

Whisk constantly, until the mixture comes to a low boil.

Cook for ONE minute. No more. No less.






Remove from heat and add vanilla extract.

The pure stuff. Not imitation...yuck!

And you're done! With the fudge ripple, at least...





Chop up the chocolate covered peanuts....









and assemble the ice cream, starting with the fudge ripple, ice cream, peanuts, ice cream, fudge ripple....repeat.

There will be fudge ripple left over.

Put a spoonful of it in a nice tall glass of cold milk.
Stir.
Enjoy~

Tin Roof Ice Cream
(4x6 printable recipe) (full page recipe)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
(4x6 printable recipe) (full page recipe)

8/21/09

14 BBA: Italian Bread

Italian bread is very similar to French bread. It is a little softer.

I turned mine into torpedo rolls.

I love these mini-loaves.


I've loved baking along with Peter Reinhart.



These were shaped into batards as in my French bread post.

I used a straight edge razor, which has improved my slashes,
but I still found myself hesitant, and the razor snagged the dough.

I'm thinking a tomato knife may do the job next time.





These came out beautifully browned on the bottom.










And the texture is tender and soft.









I toasted them, put some sliced roast beef and melted some provolone cheese










and make French Dip sandwiches out of them.


Or should they be called Italian Dip sandwiches?



Anyway, another blogworthy bread.

If you want to make it, buy the book and join the club!

You can see these rolls and other fabulous breads at YeastSpotting...hop on over!


8/19/09

4 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream - no egg

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Oreo Ice CreamA double bonus...

Two ice cream recipes today!


Oreo Ice Cream








and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough~







I love large chunks of Oreo cookies in this ice cream.

I cut 8 Oreos into fourths and dumped them in towards the end of the ice cream freezing cycle.

A very creamy vanilla ice cream with bites of soft, chewy Oreos...





This cookie dough recipe has no eggs in it.

No raw eggs, no worry!

Uses the same creamy vanilla ice cream base recipe with chunks of cookie dough and semi-sweet chocolate chips...

Vanilla Ice Cream & Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
(4x6 printable recipe) (full page recipe)

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