Mr. Lesley Cooks

Take That, You April Fool

Lesley says I can’t mention who these folks are and I have to leave out some of the language in this true story.  I can only say that I was not involved nor was Lesley.

Once upon a time there was a retired couple.  Every year the husband would play some sort of April Fool joke, one of those kind that men think are so funny.

 April Fools’ Day comes around this year and the wife is upstairs watching TV when the phone rings.  Well, she sees her loving husband’s cell phone number on the screen, so she knows he’s calling and she also knows he doesn’t know she does.

The wife answers the phone and hears a male voice trying to imitate a female one.  The voice says, “This is Cindy, call I speak to…. (we’ll not mention his name here.)  In a moment of unusual inspiration, the wife yells downstairs, “Husband, you (expletive deleted)”, she says, but not softly, “you lost your cell phone again and some woman has found it.”

I thought this was really mean on the anonymous wife’s part.

Try this recipe.  It might cheer you up.

 

Low Carb Creole Beef Grillades

3 lbs cube steaks

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup bacon fat or lard

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped green bell peppers

1 pound button mushrooms, brushed cleaned and quartered

1 tablespoon minced garlic

3/4 cup dry red wine or 1/4 cup white wine vinegar mixed with 1/2 cup water

2 cups veal or chicken stock (low sodium)

1 28-oz can Rotel tomatoes

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 1-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon salt (use less if using salty stock)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/4 cup chopped fresh or 2 tablespoons dried basil leaves

 

Season the meat with salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a large cast iron pan or a 3 quart braising pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot add bacon fat or lard in the pan and brown the seasoned beef, working in batches. Do not overcrowd the pan with the meat. Cook the beef for about 3 minutes on each side, or until brown. As the beef is browned, transfer to a large plate and set aside until you have cooked all of the beef. Add the onions, celery, peppers and mushrooms. Cook the vegetables, stirring often, until softened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 1 minute. Pour the red wine or wine vinegar water mixture to the pan and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to remove any browned bits that may have formed on the bottom.

Add the veal stock, tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, salt, cayenne, white, and black peppers to the pan and bring to a boil. Return the beef to the pan and reduce the heat to a simmer. Place a lid on the pan and place in the oven. Allow the beef to cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, for 2 hours, or until the beef is fork tender. When the beef is tender, remove the pan from the oven and stir the oregano and basil into the pot. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

This is traditionally accompanied by grits, but not with this low carb recipe.

Tom 

Service Dogs

A wonderful thing happened to me last weekend while I was down on the floor checking out the bottom shelf of a display at A. C. Moore for an art lamp that Lesley needed. Two ladies came down the aisle accompanied by a very large (are there any other kind?) Great Dane. The doggie came over and licked my face as I was struggling to my feet. Indicating her dog, one of the ladies told me that, “She can help you get up.”

And I’ll be damned if this wasn’t the biggest, friendliest service dog I have ever seen. And she had an official Service Dog badge on to prove it. A big badge. To match the rest of her.

When you are very young or at the other end of the life spectrum you find that arms are better at pulling than legs are at pushing when you find yourself on the floor, so I just grabbed onto that wonderful animal and pulled myself up. I tried to tell the three females how much I appreciated the help, but one of the ladies said that her dog was just doing her job.

I was behind them in the checkout line and we were all telling the cashier, a teenager, that the service dog had helped me get up. The young girl thought for a minute and said, “How? She doesn’t have any thumbs.”

You just can’t make these stories up. They have to be true.

I checked out service dogs on the internet and according to what I found, it looks like all you have to do is get a doctor to say that you meet some ADA disability standard or other, grab yourself a nice dog and “train” him, and you have a companion who can go everywhere with you. You know there are even psychiatric service dogs for folks who have trouble coping with people and are OK with dogs. This certainly makes sense to me.

Lesley says I can’t use Clancy because he is shy and too old. Lucy won’t hold me and there is no point in considering little Bennie. But I am filing this info away and making plans for the future when I have even more trouble getting back up off the floor.

It just seems a lot better to whistle for a dog than to whine about how I have fallen and can’t get up.

And speaking of chicken….

 

 

Jalapeno Roasted Chicken

Jalapeno paste:

1/2 cup packed fresh oregano leaves or 1/3 cup dried oregano

1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 jalapenos, stemmed and seeded

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Chicken:

1(5 1/2-pound) roasting chicken

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 shallots, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed

3/4 cup dry white wine or 1/3 cup white wine vinegar

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Special equipment: 1 roasting pan with rack.

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the oregano, shallot, garlic, butter, 2 tablespoons olive oil, the jalapeno, salt and pepper and process to form a coarse paste.

Pat the chicken dry and then put it, breast side up, on a rack in a large roasting pan. Using your fingers, loosen the skin from the chicken breast, legs, and thighs without detaching it. Spread half of the jalapeno paste under the skin. Put the rosemary and the shallots in the cavity of the chicken. Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen twine. Spread the remaining jalapeno paste all over the exterior of the chicken.

Pour the chicken broth and wine or wine vinegar into the roasting pan. Tent the chicken in foil and roast it for 1-1/2 hours, basting with the pan juices every 20 minutes, adding more broth to the pan if it begins to dry out. Remove foil and continue roasting and basting until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the innermost part of the chicken thigh, without touching the bone, registers 180 degrees F, about another hour. Remove the roast chicken from the oven, tent it in foil and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Arrange the chicken on a platter and serve.

 

Tom

Beans or Bust

On our way back from Art and Soul in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, we stopped for the night in a small town in northwestern Arizona.  I’m sure it had a name, but it was pretty late and I don’t remember.

The innkeeper, a somewhat humorless lady, wanted to make sure that we were good enough to stay in her motel and asked, “How many of you are there?  Do you have any pets?”  Then I found out that there was a $110 “fine” that had to be paid in the event of pets.  I never heard of a motel that charged fines before.  She also mentioned that the only other car parked in the lot was also from Virginia, but “he is headed the other way.”  I guess it’s OK to have two parties from the same out of state staying there if they are going in opposite directions.

While I somehow passed an exam that seemed tougher than some airports I’ve been in, Lesley and Adele had waited anxiously in the car for snoring time to begin.

We finally got to our room to discover, posted on the door, the names of famous or maybe semi-famous people who had slept there.  I didn’t recognize anyone on our door, but I did notice that the actor who had played Timmy on the “Lassie” TV show in the 50s had slept in the room next to us.

As Lesley propped a chair against the door (It seemed kind of flimsy to her), I read the sign on the inside of the door that told of a checkout time of exactly 11AM and anyone who left later than that would be charged for an extra day.  Right above that was another notice that the management checked the room both before and after any lodgers stayed there and that they would not only find out if anything was missing, but, since they had both your driver’s license number and the license number of your vehicle, they would make sure the authorities knew if you were guilty.

It’s been several weeks since we left and the lack of a police knock on our door must be evidence that if we took anything we were not supposed to that we didn’t get caught.  I hope that either Timmy not was arrested or that Lassie bailed him out with some dog biscuits.

Lesley was particularly fond of the cologne a former occupant must have used to saturate the bed spread.  I could have left a really great fragrance myself if I had eaten the beans I made the other night.  They were the best refried beans I ever made and maybe the best I ever et, as my grandma used to say.

 

 Another Refried Bean Recipe

 

2 lb dried pinto beans

1 lb smoked ham hock

1/2 lb salt pork

4 large onions, chopped

6 stalks celery, chopped

6 carrots, chopped

4 bay leaves

1 teaspoon or more hot pepper flakes

1 tablespoon or more granulated garlic

 

Soak pintos overnight in enough water to cover them by 3 inches.

Drain pintos and put in a 6-8 quart pot.  Cover with 1 inch of water.  If you don’t like a lot of salt, rinse the salt pork.  Add ham hock and salt pork, celery, carrots, bay leaves, and onions and red pepper.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 6-8 hours, until beans are falling apart.  Drain and set aside, saving the cooking liquid in another container.  Remove the bay leaves and ham hock, but leave the salt pork.

Return the beans, along with the remains of the other ingredients, into the pot.  Add 1-2 tablespoons of granulated garlic.  Add half a cup or cooking liquid.  Turn to medium heat and use a stick blender to puree the mixture.  Add more liquid if you need it or continue cooking if you have too much liquid. Correct seasonings.  Don’t use Beano or you will spoil the side effects!

Tom

Lesley Said This Was “Excellent”

Home Style Pot Roast and Gravy

 Roast

 4 lb chuck roast

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1/4 cup water

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon mustard

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

4 cloves of garlic, smashed

3 stalks or celery, cut into 2 inch pieces

4 medium taters, cut into eights

8 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces

4 medium onions, cut into eights

Brown roast in a Dutch oven over high heat until brown on all sides.  Reduce heat.  Combine next 5 ingredients and pour over beef.  Heat to boiling, then add garlic and celery, reduce heat and cover.  Simmer on stove top or cook in oven at 325 for 2 hours.  Add last 3 ingredients.  Cover and cook until carrots are tender, about 1-1/2 hours.  Remove to warm platter.  Make gravy and serve with beef.

Gravy

Remove liquid from pan to a glass container and let separate into fat and broth.  Add 3 tablespoons fat back into pan and discard any remaining fat.  Add enough water to broth to make two cups.  Heat fat over medium heat, then add 3 tablespoons flour and cook together for a few minutes until the raw taste of the flour is cooked away.  Gradually add broth and bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for a minute.

Serves 4 to 8, depending on how hungry you are.

 

Tom

Hello? Hello?

Lesley and I spent Christmas in Blizzard City, NJ.  This place was known as Wall Township before December 26, when it started to snow and snow and snow. After 32 inches, it stopped.  We stayed a day longer than we planned, but had a great time. 

There is not a lot of agreement between us about who was in charge of packing my cell phone.  The short answer is that it is still on vacation in Blizzard City with a dead battery.  Every day or so, I call and get my voice mail.  So far I have not missed any really urgent calls.  I haven’t made any calls either since the only place I have everyone’s phone number is on my cell phone.

My phone and I will be reunited in a couple of weeks, but until then I guess I’ll just continue to relax and take it easy.

Here is a recipe I made for Lesley last weekend.  I stole it from somewhere.

 

 Red Beans and Rice

1 pound dried red kidney beans

2 quarts water

1 large onion, chopped

1/4 cup bacon fat or lard

1 pound smoked ham or tasso, cubed

1 pound smoked sausages, sliced into 1/2-inch slices

1 cup water

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves

1 teaspoon whole fresh thyme leaves

2 level teaspoons salt

 

Pick through beans, removing all bad beans and any other foreign particles. Wash beans well. Place beans in 5 quart pot. Add the 2 quarts of water. Let sit overnight.

Drain and rinse beans and pot.  Put beans back into pot with 2 quarts water. Add the onions and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let beans boil slowly for 1 hour. When beans are soft, stir well, mashing some against side of pot.

Heat fat in a frying pan. Add the ham and sausage and saute for 5 minutes. Then add the sausage, ham, and fat to beans. Deglaze pan with the cup of water, then pour into beans. Add all other ingredients. Let simmer for another hour with the lid on.  Remove the lid and let it reduce until it is as thick as you want. Remove bay leaf, correct seasoning, and serve over rice.

 

Tom

More About Meat

Lesley and I are both recuperating from aches and pains.  She wrenched her neck and I hurt my back.  Neither of us knows how this happened, but we are finally over most of the suffering.

As I was taking her to work this morning, we stopped by one of our favorite French restaurant on the way.  It was M. C. Donald’s, with the accent on the second syllable.  It reminded me of the time we stopped by there for a takeout order late one evening a few years ago.  

We ordered some kind of hamburgers; I’m not sure exactly what.  I know it was some kind of meat product because after we paid at the first window, they told us at the second one that we would have to wait since they were “out of meat”.  I thought this was kind of odd…a burger joint without burgers, so we asked what was going on.  After a series of teenagers, a quasi-adult came to the window and explained that “someone” had decided to cut the grill off so they could clean it and get out early that night.  He said that it would take “a while” to get the grill going again.

They were stunned that we wanted our money back, but they finally gave in.  It only took a little while for them to have some kind of group meeting/training and figure out how to do it.  If only they had made a few meat pies.

Lesley grew up about 60 miles southeast of Natchitoches, Louisiana.  You don’t say the name anything like it looks.  I won’t even attempt it here.  One of Natchitoches’ claims to fame is the meat pie that bears the city’s name.  I have had them and there are bodacious.  I decided to fix up a batch and surprise Lesley yesterday. 

I went straight to the internet to check out recipes.  After a lot of browsing, I started with a recipe from Emeril on foodtv.com and modified it by adding things I thought would be good as well as ideas from other recipes, borrowing especially from Donald Link’s book, “Real Cajun”, that my brother-in-law had introduced me to on our Thanksgiving visit.

Maybe this is not as authentic as it could be so instead of calling it Natchitoches Meat Pies, the name of my recipe is:

 

Roanoke Meat Pies

 

For the filling:

Bacon fat, at least 2-3 tablespoons

1 pound ground chuck

1 pound ground pork

1 onion, finely chopped

1 chopped bell pepper

3 stalks chopped celery

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Worchester sauce

1 teaspoon each of:

  Cumin

  Chili powder

  Paprika

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 cloves or more minced garlic

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water or broth

1 bunch scallions, finely chopped

 

For the crust:

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

5 tablespoons lard

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water)

Peanut oil for deep-frying

 

In a large skillet heat fat and cook beef and pork on high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned, 5 or so minutes.  Reduce heat to medium and add the rest of the ingredients except for the flour, water/broth, garlic and scallions. Cook stirring often until the vegetables are wilted, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add the garlic and cook a minute or two or until you start to smell it.

Add the flour and stir until it is incorporated, then add the water or broth. Either chicken or beef broth works well. Stir until the mixture thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the green onions. Mix well, let cool and refrigerate until cold.  It will be easier to make the pies if the filling is cold.

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in the lard until mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the milk. Gradually add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, working it to make a thick dough. I do all this with a mixer with the paddle attachment except for beating the egg and milk together.  Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and roll each portion of dough into a thin round about 5 inches in diameter. Place a scant 1/4 cup of meat filling in the center of each round and brush edges lightly with egg wash. Fold edges together and crimp closed with a fork.

Heat peanut oil in a deep pot or electric deep-fryer to 360 degrees F. Fry the pies, in batches, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.  You can also bake these at 400 for about 15-20 minutes or until brown, but it‘s hard to beat the taste of deep fried food.

This recipe makes 12 pies. 

If you have a kitchen scale, each dough portion should weigh about 60 grams.  The pie crusts are pretty easy to make after you get the hang of it, although I reckon you could use store bought pie crusts and cut them down. 

The above ingredients are just guidelines.  Be creative with the amounts and throw in or leave out anything you like.   Just make sure you taste as you go and correct the seasonings until the meat mixture tastes good to you.  Don’t worry if it seems a little spicy, since the crust will tone that down. 

These pies can also be frozen.  Put the uncooked pies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper.  Put them in the freezer and package them when they are frozen.  It is best to let them thaw before frying.  If you are careful, you can defrost them in the microwave if you are in a hurry.

 

 Tom

Another Cupcake Experiment

I got a hankering to mix up a batch of cupcakes this morning, so I looked around the Epicurious website.  These fellers got rave reviews there and I figured, what the heck, I had all the ingredients (with only a couple of substitutions).  The folks at Lesley’s work liked these when I took them in this afternoon.  They are my guinea pigs.  They will eat anything sweet and free.

 Lesley thought the frosting had too much almond extract and would have preferred an extra teaspoon of vanilla instead.

 

Cinnamon-Scented Devil's Food Cupcakes with Almond Frosting

 

Cupcakes

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

2 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon white vinegar if using Dutch process cocoa

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups (about 7 ounces) mini semisweet chocolate chips

 

 Frosting

12 ounces cups 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 pounds powdered sugar

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

 

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 4 dozen half cup cupcake pans with paper liners.  Lightly spray insides with nonstick spray. Sift flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into large bowl. Combine sugar, coffee, buttermilk, oil, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla and vinegar, if using, in another large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat egg mixture until blended. Add dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed until blended, scraping bowl occasionally, about 4 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips.  This is a very liquid batter.

Spoon a scant 1/3 cup batter into each paper mold. Bake cupcakes until puffed and center is just firm to touch, about 24 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to racks and cool completely.

Frost cupcakes with almond frosting. (Can be made ahead. Arrange cupcakes in deep disposable roasting pans. Cover pans with foil. Refrigerate up to 2 days, or store at room temperature 1 day. Bring chilled cupcakes to room temperature before serving.)

 

Tom

More Bacon for Dessert

 

So, you can either use the brioche loaf from yesterday’s recipe or go out and buy one or maybe just use a loaf of whatever kind of bread you happen to have around.  You probably will want to cut the crust off any loaf except yesterday’s recipe. 

There is not much left to say.  Just fix this and eat it while you listen to your arteries clog up.

 

Brioche Bread Pudding

 

Bread pudding:

1 loaf of brioche

3 cups milk

3 cups heavy cream

6 eggs

6 egg yolks

1-1/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons vanilla extract

8 ounces bacon, fried until very crispy and crumbled

Leave the crust on the brioche. Cut brioche into 1-inch cubes. Spread them in a shallow pan and set aside.

Mix the remaining ingredients, except for the bacon, using a whisk or an immersion blender. Add the bacon and pour over the brioche, mixing well. Cover in plastic and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.

Grease a square pan and lightly sprinkle the bottom with sugar. Place the brioche mixture into the pan in an even layer, about 1-1/2 inches thick.  I used a 12x17 pan that worked great.  You can also use 2 9x13 pans.

Sprinkle the top with sugar. Bake in 350° oven for 30 to 45 minutes, until golden brown.

Sauce:

8 ounces bacon, fried until very crispy and crumbled

1/2 lb. butter

1/2 lb. dark brown sugar

2 cups maple syrup

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons vanilla extract

In a 3-qt. saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until it becomes light brown. Whisk the brown sugar, maple syrup and heavy cream into the butter and bring to a boil. Add the bacon and vanilla extract.

Using a whisk or an immersion blender, mix sauce. It is not necessary strain the sauce.  To serve, cut the bread pudding into squares or rectangles.  Cover with sauce. Moan softly while you eat.

Tom

 

 

Bacon for Dessert

 

After seeing a post by Ruth Rae couple of weeks ago about bacon cupcakes, I decided that bacon for dessert sounded like a good idea.  After a pretty decent search I found a recipe for brioche bread pudding with bacon maple sauce.  This came from, of all places, the Time magazine website.  I played with it a little.  The original version is at http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1870700,00.html.  You can look at 4 other bacon dessert recipes as well.

It took me 2 days to make this recipe.  I started early Friday morning making the brioche dough, put it in the refrigerator for 9 hours, let it rise for 3 hours, baked it and let it cool overnight on a rack.   I got up Saturday morning and assembled the bread pudding, let it stay in the refrigerator all day and baked it that evening.  I made the sauce while it was baking.  Since I also made rolls, I baked them just before I put the bread pudding in the oven.  They all got rave reviews.

Since it was a 2 day recipe, I am going to post the first part today and finish it tomorrow.

This may sound a little hard to believe but finding a loaf of brioche even in as cosmopolitan a place as Roanoke, Virginia can be pretty tough.  So I made my own.  I got this recipe from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart, which is a swell book on bread making.  He has written several others as well.  I made the “Rich Man’s Brioche” that starts on page 125, pretty much by the book.

The brioche dough is a superb recipe with a wonderful crust and great texture.  It calls for equal amounts by weight of butter and flour, so you don’t need to butter it at all after it has been baked. As I was taking the first batch of rolls out, I accidently scraped off the top of one and didn’t notice that it fell to the bottom of the oven.  Due to all the butter, it burned like a candle for about 10 minutes.

I used a KitchenAid 6 quart mixer with the paddle to make the dough.  I reckon you could use a wooden spoon, but I think it would kill my arm.  If you just want to make the loaf, make 1/3 of the recipe.  For only the rolls, make 2/3.

 Now for the brioche part of recipe:

 

Rich Brioche Dough for Bread Pudding and Rolls

1 cup bread flour

2 tablespoons yeast

1 cup milk

Stir the flour and yeast together into a large mixing bowl.  Mix in the milk and cover with plastic wrap.  Let stand for 30 minutes.

10 large eggs

7 cups flour (2 pounds)

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 lbs butter

Whisk the eggs into the sponge until smooth.  In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt and add this to the sponge and egg mix.  Stir until thoroughly combined.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  On medium speed, gradually work in 1 stick of butter at a time, making sure that each stick is incorporated before adding the next one.  Mix for 6 more minutes, scraping down the bowl from time to time.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper and mist with Pam.  Spread the dough in a rectangle to within 2 inches of each edge of the sheet pan.  Spray with Pam, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

The next day, cut off 1/3 of the dough and keep cold.  Re-spray and recover the remaining dough and put back in the refrigerator.  Put out the dough third into a 5x8 inch rectangle.  It will be very sticky.  Roll up starting with the short side into a loaf shape and put it seam side down in a 5x9 inch well greased loaf pan.  Make sure the pan is very well greased since this dough tends to stick. 

Spray the dough with Pam and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Let rise about 3 hours, or until it is 1-1/2 to 2 times the original size.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the internal temperature of the dough reaches 190 degrees.  Immediately remove from pan and cool on a wire rack until completely cool.  Save this to make bread pudding the next day. 

Use the remaining dough to make rolls by dividing it into 24 equal sized balls and putting the balls into two regular sized muffin pans that make a dozen each.  Use nonstick pans or grease them thoroughly.

Spray and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until nearly doubled.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the pans at once and  let cool for 20 minutes or more before serving.

One last note:  this is very soft and sticky dough and tends to stick to everything including the pan.  I reckon you could line the loaf pan or muffin tin bottoms with parchment, but it won’t brown as well on the bottom if you do.  Since you use will cube this loaf later for bread pudding, it doesn’t really matter if you have to gouge it out of the pan.  Even if you rip a couple of the rolls to get them out of the muffin tins, folks will love them anyway.  One of our guests thought the rolls by themselves were dessert.

Tom

Another Installment From The Infirmary

 

I have just enough strength to cook for a few minutes before collapsing back on the sofa to watch football.  After a while, I get up and do a little more.  From time to time, I stumble downstairs to Lesley’s sick room and to see if she needs anything.  This is a great technique for making stews and soups.  Try this one:

 

Green Beans and Ham Stew

1 lb gristly country ham steak with lots of bone and fat attached

3 large onions, chopped
8 stalks celery, chopped
8 carrots, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

8 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups fat free chicken broth
3 lbs fresh green beans
1 28 oz can maters with juices

2 lbs fat free ham, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
Salt and pepper to taste


Brown ham steak in a 6-8 quart stockpot or Dutch oven.  Remove ham from pot and saute until soft onions, celery, bell pepper and carrots.  Add garlic and cook for a minute.  Add ham steak, maters and chicken broth, cover and cook for an hour.  Remove ham steak, and cut any remaining lean meat into small pieces after discarding anything nasty or boney. Add green beans and cook for another hour.  Add cubed ham and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for about an hour longer.  Adjust seasoning and serve.

 

Tom