Tasty Tuesday ~ Mikey's nearly world famous Dutch baby

We were able to buy our pots and pans after we were married, well not right after we were married. I am a strong believer in waiting for what is worth it. We had the money but they were not on sale. The holidays were approaching so I knew there would be some sales. I ended up getting them 15% off plus 10% off for our bridal registry and a lasagna pan, cookbook and oven mits. We also got measuring cups and a skillet with our monogram and wedding date. Before we got our All Clad pans we had a pretty entry level set that I bought years ago when I moved to Denver. I was thinking of getting a nicer set but my Aunt Alison talked me out of it. Why by something twice when you are going to replace it? Our set had plastic handles so it made recipes like this impossible. It was something that we were looking forward to. One day we were flipping through the Williams-Sonoma catalog and Mikey saw this, we made it the next day for breakfast. This combines so many of our favorite gadgets, pans, whipper, vitamix and our favorite vanilla. This is a recipe adapted from a recipe by Chef Cole Dickinson, Michael Voltaggio’s sous chef at Ink, Los Angeles, you can see the original recipe and a touching story here.

Ingredients:

3 eggs at room temperature

3/4 cup bread flour

3/4 cup whole milk at room temperature

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. sugar

1 pinch of salt

4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted soft butter

Directions:

Put an 11-inch French skillet or ovenproof sauté pan in a cold oven. Preheat the oven to 475°F.

Put the eggs, flour, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a blender. Blend on high until frothy, about 30 seconds, stopping the blender to scrape down the sides as needed.

When the oven is preheated, put the butter in the hot skillet. Let the butter melt, swirling the pan to coat the bottom and the sides. Carefully and slowly pour the batter into the center of the hot skillet. Delicately put the pan in to the oven making sure that the batter floats on top of the butter. Bake until the Dutch baby is lightly browned and the sides have risen, 17 to 19 minutes. Do not open up the door until it is time to take it out. 

While this is baking we put whipping cream in a whipper to make whip cream, we really enjoy it without sugar added.

Remove the skillet from the oven and let the Dutch baby cool for 3 to 4 minutes. Williams-Sonoma says it will feed 4-6, we cut it in half. We put fresh squeezed lemon juice, powdered sugar and whip cream on ours. Best way to start the day. 

Thrifting Thursday ~ Garlic bowl

My mother in-law has a bowl for her garlic that she keeps out on her counter. It makes sense, I have been keeping mine in my fruit bowl, but no more:

Add a little garlic and wallah.

Today is... Lost Sock Memorial Day

Did you know that today is National Lost Sock Memorial day? Well I figured the best thing to do is see how many missing socks we actually had, the good news today 6 pairs found their mate as I actually went through our missing sock pile. The bad news we had thirteen left. In honor of all the missing socks we will be using 2 of them to stain a vintage Thomasville end table tonight. Like seriously at 8 pm. As I just realized. I did strip the end table over the weekend so it works out.

You can learn more here. 

Tasty Tuesdays ~ Pork Carnitas

Ingredients: 

·                     2.5 lb pork shoulder blade roast, lean, all fat removed

·                     6 cloves garlic, cut into quarters

·                     cumin

·                     garlic powder

·                     1 cup stock I used vegetable as I already had it on hand

·                     3-5 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce 

·                     2 bay leaves

Directions:

I cannot explain to you how very important it is to remove all the fat before you start cooking. I forgot and it was a super amount of work later. It also probably was not as healthy as it could have been.  Season pork with salt and pepper. In a medium sauté pan on medium-high heat, brown pork on all sides for about 10 minutes. Or if you have a cast iron insert for your crock pot you can put it right in there.

Using a sharp knife, insert blade into pork, cutting slits and insert garlic slivers. 

Season pork generously with cumin, adobo and garlic powder all over.

Pour chicken broth in the crockpot, add bay leaves and peppers. Place pork in crock pot and cover. Cook low for 8 hours. After 8 hours, shred pork using two forks and combine well with the juices that accumulated at the bottom. Remove bay leaves and adjust salt and cumin, if you like it spicy or just not so bland you will need much more. Let it cook another 15-30 minutes. Garnish with sour cream or plain greek yogurt, red onions and avocados. I adapted this recipe from skinny taste.

I also used some of the Great Northern Bean soup and added white rice with the juice of one lime and a palmful of cilantro. Add a scoop to each bowl after filling it half way full of soup. 

The Daily Grind for Chris and Sandy

Last year my brother got married to Sandy. She is wonderful and they are great together. I wanted to get them the best gift (cash) as they needed to do some home improvement projects and they did not register. Besides that I wanted to get them a little something that when they used they thought of us. I happened to have some paint in their color scheme and when I was hanging out with them one day I noticed that they did not have salt and pepper shakers, I prefer grinders so I thought I would make them some. I also happened to see some napkin rings at the thrift store. 

To start off I washed them really well.

Then I sanded them. Here you can see the difference. I would not say that they were perfectly sanded but they were enough to hold the paint. 

For the tops I used a straw for the pepper mill and five toothpicks for the salt shaker.

I painted a few coats.

This is how they look in their kitchen. 

Thrifting Thursdays - Owl

I know that owls are all the rage. I never really go on that train until now...

Isn't he cute and he was only $.65

Tastey Tuesdays ~ Great Northern Beans Garlic Soup

A few months ago I made Thomas Keller's Slow Cooker Cassoulet, I was not a fan. I should say that it might have been ok if I just had a bowl, however the recipe called for 12 cups of beans and there are only two of us so you know what that means, Cassoulet for two weeks straight. yuck. I typically do not use dry beans and I was not sure how many I needed so I got too many and they have been hanging out in the freezer for 6 months now. I figured that it was time to make some more of them. So after I recently made pot pies I I saved the skin and the bones and made chicken stock. With the two combined I decided to adapt the Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup from the zoe blog. She had some great ideas when she adapted it from Giada De Laurentis on the food network she swapped the cream out for a medium potato. Genus! I changed her version in the spirit of kitchen sink cooking. Also I love my vita mix and I wanted to make less of a mess, plus I was feeling a little lazy so I decided to use it in more than one way.

Great Northern Beans Garlic Soup
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 shallots, peeled
4 sage leaves
32 ounces of great northern beans
7 cups of chicken broth
4 cloves of garlic
5 small red potatoes
salt
fresh ground pepper

The night before take beans and 4 cups of chicken stock and cook on high for ten hours until soft.
Place your shallots in your Vitamix or standard blender, add water until they are almost covered. Pulse three several times until minced. Drain, reserving liquid. Add the shallots along with butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook stirring occasionally until soft and translucent. 

Add beans and sage, stir to incorporate.

In the Vitamix, place the remaining 3 cups of chicken stock, the water reserved from the shallots and the garlic. Pulse until minced. Slowly pour in to the pot. Bring to a simmer.

Chop the potatoes in to quarters drizzle with remaining olive oil, bake at 400 degrees for 22 minutes.

Add potatoes and oil to soup. In batches blend soup. Heat, again add salt and pepper to taste. 

To jazz it up a bit I added a piece of sourdough toast smothered in garlic butter. You could also add bits of bacon. 

"I could be a vegan, with a little bacon on top" ~ David Bromstad