Peach Bourbon Applesauce

     There's really not a whole lot to making applesauce. It's pretty much just apples and sugar. It's not really missing anything. Except booze. Everything is better with booze. I took a basic recipe from The Better Homes and Gardens Home Canning Cook Book and added a fantastic peach liquor. The booze cooks out but leaves behind a subtle peach flavor in the applesauce that is just wonderful. If you want the original recipe, just leave out the booze. Canned, this will hold for around a year on the shelf. We like to make a gallon at a time and just put it aside in quart jars. It's nice to get a taste of summer in the middle of winter. As always, notes are in blue.

Peach Bourbon Applesauce
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Home Canning Cook Book 

Ingredients

• 6-7 pounds apples (use whatever type you like. We just stole ours from our neighbor's apple trees)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup Benchmark Peach Whiskey

Directions

1. Wash, quarter and core apples. Combine apples, 4 cups of water and color keeper. Bring to a boil; reduce to simmer for about 15 minutes or until apples are tender.
2. Press apples through food mill (if you have a KitchenAid with a food mill attachment, this part is wonderfully easy. If you're using a manual food mill, this recipe qualifies as a Pain In The Ass)
3. Put milled apples in a large pot with the sugar and booze. Cook over low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, stirring to prevent scorching or sticking. Taste and add sugar or more booze as needed. 
4. If you plan on eating a gallon of applesauce on the spot, you can skip this and the next step. Pack into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. 
5. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath (as always, defer to the National Center for Home Food Preservation to make sure you are canning correctly)

Good times!

Mushroom and Chive Ravioli

     The Wife is somewhat predictable about certain things. If I ask what movie she wants to watch, it's always Pride and Prejudice or Ghostbusters. If she's going to read a book, likely it will be about the English royalty. If she's going to watch TV, it's going to be a baseball game. When it comes to food, it's pasta. Left to her own devices, it will be mac & cheese. If I'm cooking, it's pasta with red sauce and meatballs. I always tremble at that request because it is Labor Intensive. It's borderline P.I.T.A. However, she is wonderful and I love her very much, so I will indulge her. Plus, I really like pasta and meatballs, too. I already have a good red sauce and meatballs recipe I use, so I just needed to come up with a pasta. She loves ravioli and she loves mushrooms, so I threw together a filling for some ravioli for her. The end result was 54 delicious ravioli. Fortunately, they freeze really well. Just lay them on sheets of waxed paper with a dusting of flour! The basic pasta recipe came out of the KitchenAid pasta roller instructions. The filling is all mine. I hope you like it as much as much as we did! As always, notes are in blue.

Mushroom and Chive Ravioli

Ingredients

• For Filling
• 1 lb. ricotta cheese
• 8 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped (use whatever kind of mushroom you want. We used regular white mushrooms)
• 6-8 whole chives, finely chopped (use both the white and green part)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• For Ravioli Pasta
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• 3-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (I actually did sift the flour for once!)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

For Filling

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add chive and sautee for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and sautee for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce and sautee for one more minute. 

   

   Shroomin'!

4. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then put mushroom and chive mixture in a bowl with the ricotta and stir to incorporate.

   

   Now you need to resist the urge to just shovel this by the spoonful into your gaping maw.

For Pasta

1. Place eggs, water, flour and salt in mixing bowl. Add the beater blade, turn to speed 2 and mix for 30 seconds (we're assuming you have a KitchenAid here. If not, just mix by hand at whatever your personal "speed 2" setting would be)
2. Swap the beater blade for the dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 2 minutes (or if you're not lazy like me, just knead it by hand.)
3. Remove dough from bowl and hand-knead for 1-2 minutes (I actually did this. I am not a total slug.)
4. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Run each through a pasta roller until you his "5" (I'm hoping pasta rollers have universal measurements, because I went to 5 on the KitchenAid pasta roller. I apologize in advance if you end up with tissue paper)

Assembly

1. Take 2 rolled out sheets of pasta. On one, start dropping 1 tablespoon scoops of the filling at even intervals along the dough (Our ravioli ended up being about 2-3/4" across on the average. Use smaller scoops if you want an obscene amount of smaller ravioli.)

   

   Notice the precision spacing between the filling. That's because The Wife did this part.
   I was busy rolling out pasta.

2. Take a basting brush and brush water on the pasta in between the filling. Lay the other sheet of pasta over the top and press down in between the filling, sealing the two sheets and working out any air bubbles.
3. Use a ravioli wheel cutter to cut the pasta into squares (If you already have one of those things that stuffs and seals the ravioli all in one, you probably are way past anything I can offer you and should go to a site where they know what they are doing). If you're using my measurements, you'll end up with about 54 ravioli.
4. Cook like them you would any other ravioli. 

Those are the steady hands of a neurosurgeon.
Or an English teacher.
Good times!

Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

     It's been a while since I've dug into my trusty copy of Taste of Home Every Day Light Meals for something other than a bread recipe. This particular dessert was very rich, closing in on a touch heavy. Don't get me wrong, it was damned good. Just have a glass of milk or bourbon or something to help it on its way. The recipe called for egg whites, but I wasn't feeling that and just used whole eggs. It seemed to work out fine. As always, any changes or notes are in blue.

Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
via Taste of Home Everyday Light Meals

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1-1/2 squares (1-1/2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate (we used 2 ounces because I didn't feel like breaking the piece in half. I'm lazy like that)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white (I didn't really want a bunch of leftover yolks, I just omitted this)
• 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream (we used Greek yogurt)

Cream cheese mixture:

• 1 package (8 ounces) reduced fat cream cheese (as always, we went with Neufchatel)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg white (didn't feel like separating eggs, we just used another entire egg)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (6 ounces) miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, combine water, butter and chocolate. Cook and stir over low heat until melted; stir until smooth. Allow to cool.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Add egg, egg white (if using) and sour cream. Beat on low speed until just combined (I used the Kitchenaid, any electric mixer will do. You can do it by hand if you're feeling particularly industrious). Stir in chocolate mixture until smooth.
3. In another mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg white (or just egg if you're hardcore like me) and vanilla; set aside.
4. Spread chocolate batter into a 15"x10"x1" baking pan coated with non-stick cooking spray. Drop the cream cheese mixture by tablespoonfuls (that doesn't sound right. Tablespoonsful? This is going to bother me) over batter. Cut through batter with a knife to swirl (Protip: read the recipe all the way through. I generally do not. Which is why I ended with a nice layer of cream cheese right across the top of the cake. It still tasted good, though). Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
5. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes (we went 25 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Good times!

Skillet Apple Brownie via All Recipes

     I have mixed emotions about All Recipes. It's kind of like the YouTube of recipe sites. People put their best efforts into creating something, then the people in the comments ruthlessly dismantle the person who posted. Some of the comments are just downright mean. However, there are some fairly good recipes lurking about. I actually subscribed to the All Recipes magazine to allow the recipes to be pre-screened for me. That's how I found this recipe. This was a very dense and rich dessert and would benefit greatly from a nice vanilla ice cream melting across the top. As always, any notes and changes are in blue.

Skillet Apple Brownie
via All Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (omitted)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I substituted a tablespoon of French Vanilla syrup from Java & Co.)
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 2 cups apples, peeled, cored and chopped (I used a pint of my home canned apples in bourbon and clove)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (No pecans in the house. I substituted chopped walnuts)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place an 8-9" cast iron skillet in oven to preheat.
2. Whisk together flour, white sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves (if used) in a bowl; set aside.
3. Beat together eggs, vanilla extract (or syrup), 1/2 cup of melted butter in a mixing bowl. (I used the Kitchenaid. Eventually Kitchenaid has to give me a sponsorship)
4. Toss apples and nuts in flour mixture, then stir into egg mixture until combined (again, the Kitchenaid was used to combine the dry and wet ingredients. ARE YOU LISTENING, KITCHENAID?)
5. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter to hot skillet, coating pan evenly. Pour batter into pan and place in oven. Bake until sides are dry and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes (as always mine took a bit longer, closer to 50 minutes. Cooking times may vary)
6. Cool in skillet 20 minutes before removing to slice (as you can see from the picture, I left it in the pan to slice. Rebel to the end, that's me)

Good times!

Spicy Won Ton Soup via Foodista

     I had planned on making this soup recipe for my wife's birthday. I let her sift through my recipes and pinboard and pick out what she wanted. She found this recipe for Spicy Won-Ton Soup on Foodista. I made a fair amount of changes to this recipe out of necessity.  I didn't have a couple of the ingredients in stock and made substitutions. I also ended up doubling the recipe because I used a pound of meat. Plus, we had an unexpected guest so I needed to pad out the broth to make sure there was enough for everyone. Fortunately I had a bunch of chicken stock in the freezer. The soup was a big hit and very tasty. As always, notes and changes are in blue.

Spicy Won-ton Soup
via Foodista

Ingredients

Wontons
1/2 pound ground chicken or ground turkey (I didn't have any ground turkey or chicken in the house and didn't feel like grinding it myself. I did, however have a pound of ground pork, which I used instead)
1/4 cup carrots,  minced
2 stalks spring onion, minced (I used green onion. I figured it was the same thing. I also used 4)
1 teaspoon fish sauce (I used 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper(optional) (hot peppers are never an option. Stop living in fear. However, in this case I left them out because my wife didn't want a super spicy soup. If mama ain't happy, nobody's happy)
salt and pepper to taste
won-ton wrappers (Didn't have these either. However, I did have egg roll wrappers which I ran though the Kitchenaid pasta roller on the thinnest setting. *POOF!* Instant wonton wrappers)

Broth
2 cups chicken broth (I ended up using double this amount because I had so many won-tons. Please use your own chicken stock. Don't use boullion unless it's an emergency)
1 teaspoon  fermented soy bean paste or black bean paste or chili (I found a jar of black bean sauce with garlic at the grocery store that looked promising. I used that instead)
1 teaspoon sliced ginger (I went berserk and used over 2 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon soy sauce or fish sauce (season to suit your taste)
1 stalk spring onion, sliced diagonally for garnish (totally forgot to do this)
Baby bok choy or Chinese broccoli (Accidentally bought Chinese CABBAGE instead of broccoli. I just cut up some of that and used it. No harm done)

Directions

1. Mix filling in a bowl. Place one teaspoon in center of won-ton wrapper and fold in half, sealing edges with water.
2. Boil 2 cups of chicken broth. (Or however much you ended up using) Add fermented soy beans (or black bean and garlic sauce) and ginger . Drop won-ton balls and continue cooking until won-tons starting floating. 
3. Add baby bok choy (if large, cut in half lengthwise) or sliced Chinese broccoli (Or Chinese cabbage). Cook until vegetables are blanched.
4. Remove from heat. Season with extra soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste (Yeah, there's probably enough sodium in here already. Maybe skip the extra soy sauce and salt unless you're a huge fan of hypertension.) Garnish with spring onions and serve.

Good times!

Corn Muffins with Gouda, Kale and Sweet Pickled Peppers

     I'm really enjoying my Sunday baking. Each week I dig around trying to find something new to make. Sometimes, I can't find exactly what I want. This was one of those days. I knew I wanted to do something with a jar of sweet pickled peppers I had in the fridge, but no recipe I had calls for that. I wound up finding a recipe for Spinach Corn Muffins in (don't be shocked now,) Taste of Home Everyday Light Meals.  I wound up taking the basic muffin recipe and swapping out several ingredients. The result was fantastic. The muffins had just the right amount of sweetness and a nice flavor from the pickled peppers. I'll set you up with the original recipe and, as always, changes and notes are in blue.

Corn Muffins with Gouda, Kale and
Sweet Pickled Peppers
originally boring and dusty old Spinach Corn Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup fat-free milk (you should know by now that I used 2%)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil (didn't have any. I used an equal amount of vegetable oil)
• 1 cup chopped fresh spinach (I used kale instead. I loves me some kale.)
• 3/4 cup shredded reduce-fat cheddar cheese (I went with Gouda. I figured the taste would complement the sweet peppers)
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped (normally I wouldn't wave off jalapenos, but it wasn't what I was looking for. I went with a scant 1/4 cup of chopped sweet pickled banana peppers. I'm not sure where you're going to find these, I canned these myself last year. In a pinch, if you could find bread and butter peppers, it would work. I imagine bread and butter pickles might be fun, too!)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine, the cornmeal, flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. 
2. In another bowl, beat the egg, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
3. Fold in the greens, cheese and peppers (I used the Kitchenaid to do steps 2 and 3. No harm done as far as I can tell.)
4. Coat muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray; fill 2/3 full with batter.
5. Bake at 400F for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (mine took 22 minutes on the nose.) Cool for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack. 

These made 11 muffins for me. Depending on the size of your muffin cups cooking time and yield will vary. 

Good times!

Sausage and Mozzarella Stuffed Whole-Wheat Ravioli

     Every now and then I completely lose my mind. Last Sunday was one of those times. I decided on a fairly large-scale Italian dinner. All from scratch. Monday I talked about the meatballs and sauce. Today we're going to look at the pasta end of the meal. I've always wanted to make whole-wheat pasta and I happened to have five pounds of whole-wheat flour in the pantry. I dug around in the manual for my Kitchenaid pasta sheet roller and found a recipe for the pasta. That was the base for my ravioli. The directions assume you have a Kitchenaid mixer. If not, you're going to be doing the mixing and kneading entirely by hand.

Sausage and Mozzarella Stuffed Whole-Wheat Ravioli

Ingredients
Pasta

• 4 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Filling

1. Cook sausage in pan until browned, drain excess grease
2. Reduce heat to low, add cheese and stir until cheese has melted throughout the meat. Set aside to cool.

Pasta

1. Place eggs, water, whole wheat flour and salt in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater Turn to speed 2 and mix 30 seconds.
2. Exchange beater for dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 2 minutes. Remove from bowl and hand knead for another 2 minutes. Divide dough into eight pieces before processing with sheet roller.
3. Attache the pasta sheet roller and start running the dough through. You're looking to work the dough to Roller setting 5. This is about 1/16" or so if by hand. (This dough will fight you in the sheet roller. The first couple of passes on the widest setting will still tend to shred the dough. You need to work it fairly thin before it will pass through without tearing. You're going to be doing a lot of folding and re-feeding. I hope you didn't have any other plans for the afternoon).

   

   You're going to end up with several sheets that hopefully look like this.

4. Lay out a sheet of rolled out pasta on a cutting board. Put a teaspoon of filling at regular intervals. You'll be able to get about 6 or so ready on a sheet. 

   

   This is what you should have in front of you.

5. Take a brush and dip it in some water. Paint water around the filling on the sheet. Lay another sheet over the top and press it into place. 

   

   Reference photos are proof that I care about you.

6. Get a ravioli cutter. The only reason I own one is that my wife's cousin gave me one when I mentioned I didn't own one. She's funny like that. If you don't have one, just cut it with a knife, then go around the very edge with the end of a fork to gently push the edges together and give it those fun little notches around the edge.

   

   Confession time. The wife is doing all the grunt work in these pictures. 

7. Get a big pot of water going at a rolling boil. Throw in some salt. It's pasta, don't be shy. In batches of six or so, toss the ravioli into the water. Cook them for 3-5 minutes depending on how done you want them. (We planned on finishing ours in our sauce, so we only cooked them for 3 minutes. They also freeze very well if taken out at this time.) Remove from water with slotted spoon and place in colander to drain off excess water. 

   

   Dramatic action shot.

8. At  this point, we took a cookie sheet and put down a layer of wax paper. We laid a single layer of ravioli, then another sheet of wax paper, another of ravioli...you get the idea. These wax paper sheets can then be loaded into freezer bags and put in the freezer for long term storage. You can heat them up in boiling water, cook them in sauce, or even microwave them to heat them up. This recipe will make about 60-70 ravioli. 

Good times!

Companies I'd Be Glad To Sell Out To

     As much as I enjoy writing this blog for the six or seven people who follow it, I really only am doing this for the remote chance that I will get famous. I am putting it out there that I would be more than happy to whore myself out to any company that would provide me with cash or material goods. Drive that dump truck of money and kitchen supplies to my door. I'm not made of stone. Remodel my kitchen, I don't care. In the event that anyone with the power to make those things happen is reading, I have a wish list of companies I would be glad to shill for. If I can get it for nothing, I will gladly wear or use the product.

Just like this, but with cooking.

Kitchenaid
I already own a Kitchenaid stand mixer, and I love it. I would love an endless supply of attachments. Or knives. Hell, I'll take an apron.

Misono Knives
These knives are so beautiful and could cut a cow in half in one swing. They're also outside of my price range. If anyone is listening, I would be more than happy to post endless pictures of me swinging this knife around the kitchen to my Facebook page. Those 37 likes could make a big difference.
UPDATE: I'm up to 1,196 likes if that makes any difference in a potential sponsorship.

Viking Range Corporation
I could do so many wonderful things with one of their ranges in my kitchen. They are hugely awesome and powerful. The thought of a six-burner powerhouse cranking away gives me tingly feelings in my private places.

Royal Doulton
If it's good enough for my close friend, Gordon Ramsay, it is certainly good enough for me.

Land Rover
While it is not specifically cooking related, I certainly would be much happier picking up groceries in a Range Rover. Just saying.

Good times!