Peckish Sister's Reviews
465 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating 
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Mexican Light: Exciting, Healthy Recipes from the Border and Beyond
By Martha Rose Shulman
Bantam - 1996
I cheated here using the somewhat dry left over brown rice in the refrigerator and a can of black beans. I did cook the onion, chiles and garlic however. Wow, what incredible flavor! She said to serve immediately, but that did not happen of all members of the famly. Using dryish brown rice was great here as it did not become soft and mushy. We served it with the new Johnsonville Brothers chorrizo sausages (grilled) and it was a great meal. These beans and rice would also make a great main dish aall by themselves.
useful (1)
The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook
By Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Cook's Illustrated - 2009
This is my favorite wilted spinach salad. I like the dressing, it is minimal and brings the only problem to the salad; I never get enough wilting. This may be exacerbated by my tendency to sneak in more spinach. I think the solution is to add the spinach to the dressing in the pan. By the time I scrape all the dressing out of the pan and onto the spinach, it has already cooled quite a bit. I also have one boiled egg per person if you are having this for a meal.
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The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook: 2,000 Recipes from 20 Years of America's Most Trusted Cooking Magazine
By Editors at Cook's Illustrated Magazine
Cook's Illustrated - 2011
The base recipe is the the Blondie (brownie) recipe with lots of brown sugar, toasted pecans (for which I substituted walnuts), chocolate and white chocolate chips. To make it a Congo bar, you add carefully toasted coconut. My son in college has declared this his most favorite cookie (to receive in a care package). This recipe makes a 9 X 13" pan of these very rich thick cookies.
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Cooking Light
(December, 2010)
This was a delicous dish with a creamy sauce contrasting with the savory-crunchy topping. I doubled this recipe to serve four as a main course, baking it in an 9 X 13" baking dish and adding an extra 10 minutes of baking time. I also substituted a 15 oz can of fresh cut tomatoes for the fresh.
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The New Basics Cookbook
By Julee Rosso, Sheila Lukins
Workman Publishing Company - 1989
I was looking for a different lamb recipe that still retained the flavors of garlic and rosemary. We had fresh Desirable pecans and Florida citrus and it seemed an obvious choice. The filling was a little too generous. The flavor of orange was very nice, and the mint with the spinach in the filling was inspired. The savory sauce was what made the dish outstanding and a must do again. A great special occasion dish.
useful (2)
Cooking Light
(Jan/Feb, 2011)
Very few ingredients, the scallions, goat cheese and crispy bacon made a very delicious filling and it cooked very quickly. This would be a nice dish for company as you could stuff the chicken ahead and cook it rapidly as it finishes in the oven after sauteing. My family would love to have it again.
useful (1)
Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
This is a most satisfying Waldorf salad. It should be served fresh or only add the nuts as you serve it. The citrus dressing seems very thin when you mix it up, but is just right for a bright fruity touch. The toasted pecans dominate with an amazing and really distinctive flavor. The finely chopped dates add tiny bursts of sweetness that do not overwhelm or become hard like raisens in a traditional Waldorf salad. I was a little dubious about the cheese, but it smoothes out the acid from the apple nicely. This recipe is perfect as it is.
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The New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking)
By Mollie Katzen
TEN SPEED PRESS - 2000
This delicious salsa really makes great use of a perfectly ripe mango. I love the flavor and contrasting color of the red onions soaked in the boiling water. I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect! The flavors are very yummy and the mango comes through loud and clear. It is just as delicious as it is pretty. If you serve it as the only salsa, it can really shine. When we also served the tomato salsa, we were shocked to find we preferred the tomato salsa.
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I was told if I made my own salsa, I would never buy the stuff in jars again and did not believe it. They must have been talking about this recipe! Just enough bite from the lime and cider vinegar. Great flavor from the toasted cumin seeds, without overwhelming. The moment you taste it, you forget the work involved to make it. I made no changes and will have to prepare this again soon – it doesn’t last long!
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This exquisite creation gets one of my very rare 5 ratings. My old muffin tins were too decrepit to use without liners and so I bought a new non-stick pan with slightly larger muffin holes than my old tin. I used a measuring cup to pour in the batter without slopping it everywhere and filled the cups slightly less than half (it calls for ½ to 2/3) and only ended up with 11. This popover recipe differs from the original Moosewood recipe in having more flour and milk, less butter and a choice of between 2 and 4 eggs depending on how custardy you want them. I used 3 and would be hard-pressed to try it any other way. They rose well beyond the top of the pan, all crisp and golden brown, with a great custardy layer on the bottom. We loved them with pineapple jam. I did not do a good job of pricking the popovers and removing them from the pan; I just pulled them up, pricked them and left them sideways in the pan, but off of the bottom. Those left behind rapidly deflated and became rather limp, but were no less delicious. Next time I will follow the directions and will remove them from the pan, prick them and place them on a cooling rack. These were incredibly easy to whip up, and really impress. My family calls them, “The Puffs”.
useful (4)
From previous experience with this recipe, I agree with Monkey Rose that it is problematic with too little crust/too much filling. So I increased the amount of dough by 50 % and threw it into my bread machine. And I didn’t worry about being a little short on spinach. This time I had enough dough to roll it ¼ inch thick and accommodate the filling. With less spinach, the filling was not watery. I found the easiest way to fill the calzones was to put the rolled dough on one hand and dump the pre-measured 1/6 of the filling into the dough. Then by slightly closing your hand, you can easily moisten and pinching the dough together with your other hand, and finish as per directions. In 20 minutes we had 6 perfectly filled and baked calzones. The crust was chewy and delicious as was the filling. This is the first time I have made calzones at all similar to those you can buy at fine Italian establishments.
useful (2)
Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
This was an intensely chocolate flavored, very tender, not chewy, but not really cakey brownie. I substituted dark brown for the light brown sugar, and do not like plain brownies, so added 1 cup each of chopped walnuts and dried cherries. They were a very important part of why these brownies were so luscious as the dried cherries became very plump and were quite wonderful warm as well. My standard brownie is chewy and my favorite recipe is Baker’s one bowl brownies. This would be an acceptable, but different alternative recipe.
useful (1)
The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook
By Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Cook's Illustrated - 2009
We used a double recipe of this marinade on a charcoal-grilled butterflied leg of lamb (for that grilling technique see The New Basics Cookbook – Butterflied Leg of Lamb P 469). It has all the flavors I want when cooking lamb – garlic, fresh rosemary, also fresh thyme and olive oil. This turned out to be the best tasting leg of lamb we ever had. The flavor really penetrates much more than all of those times I spent forever sticking slivers of garlic into a leg of lamb. I wanted to review this recipe before I forgot (again) where it came from because that would be tragic.
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Vegetarian Epicure
By Anna Thomas
Vintage - 1972
A curry as visually appealing as it was satisfying. My children like cauliflower. With all the spices and the lovely yellow color it assumed during cooking, I was able to eat it and like it as well. The only change I made was to only use one very large cauliflower instead of two medium and the proportions seemed fine.
useful (1)
Slow Cooker Revolution
By The Editors at America's Test Kitchen, America's Test Kitchen
Boston Common Press - 2011
This chocolate pudding cake adapted well to the crock pot and had intense dark chocolate flavor in both the cake and pudding. In the past I have always been disappointed with not enough chocolate flavor in this type of recipe. However to get that flavor, melted butter and chocolate chips are added; this is also not the usual low fat dessert. I do not like chocolate desserts without the texture of nuts or fruit, but past experiments with nuts were not successful as they became soggy. The addition of ½ cup of dried cherries with the chocolate chips resulted in fully hydrated juicy cherries, a delicious complement to the chocolate. I used my round, 5 quart slow cooker which does not run hot, so I did not use the foil collar. It took an additional 25 minutes to fully cook. Be sure to be the one to scrape the last out of the slow cooker as a lot of chocolate goodness is left at the bottom.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This was so quick to whip up, it made an excellent meal on a night when you do not think you have time to cook. The critical part is taking the time to cook each one perfectly so it is very hot inside and crisp outside. I substituted whole wheat tortillas, They would have been even better if we had had the cilantro on hand, but have that taste delight to look forward to the next time we make it. Be sure you scoop the slaw carefully; apparently the person who got the last one made by pouring the slaw out got an overdose of lime juice. Incredibly delicious and the meat was not missed!
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I was looking for something special to whip up for breakfast. This looked a little intensive, but encouraged by AHJ12475’s review I plunged in. Without a stand mixer (Yes, I think this is finally on my wish list), it took me 1 hour of prep time and she had good directions on how to do it by hand. But I must admit, as I peeled, cut and dried the apples, grated the cheddar (I used orange) and shaped these coffee-shop worthy giant scones (the rolling pin abandoned as I lovingly patted these into the right shape). I was shocked that this recipe only made 6 scones! We enjoyed these by themselves so we could savor their buttery tenderness, concentrated apple flavor and bits of sharp cheddar. Although white cheddar was called for, the orange cheddar color enhanced the golden color of the scones. The sugar topping did not clash with the cheese but added some welcome extra sweetness.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
The fresh sweet corn flavor really predominates this creamy spoon bread. If you like creamed corn (which I hate), this dish will probably make you swoon. I made it in a nine inch square pan (one of the options) instead of a soufflé dish and it was done in the suggested time and came out very nice with lots of the crispy bits against the side of the pan. This delicious dish is easily a half day project (even with all her labor saving steps). I poured the hot cornmeal mixture into another bowl to speed the cooling process as suggested, but even that step took longer than stated even with frequent mixing. Because of the time needed to make this dish, I will probably not attempt it again.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
The first bite was so sweet in a great onion way. The dish was savory and the large amount of curry powder did not dominate. Cooking the lentils with the lid on solved my usual problem of cardboard-like lentils. It will definitely be my lentil stew go-to recipe in the future. I used a can of diced tomatoes to take out the food processing stepand substituted Balsamic for red wine vinegar to brighten it at the end.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This really satisfies. If you have all of the ingredients on hand, you must make this! My only deviation from the recipe was to use dried tarragon (I am not a fan). It was very easy and quick to make. I also added lemon juice at the end and it was just the right touch. I was hesitant about adding much of the pasta water back in at the end, but next time I will be more bold; the sauce was very thick, and I think with more pasta water would have been creamier. It did look just like the picture and there were no leftovers!
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This made an incredible shepherd’s pie that was the first dish to completely disappear at a Pot Luck. The flavor of the gravy and vegetables was intense, and the colors of the carrots, peas, beef, etc were picture perfect. I used a package of instant mashed potatoes (that made 5 cups of potatoes) as I was in a great hurry and it was the perfect amount to cover the top of a round 6 quart Crockpot. The only request my kids had was to throw shredded cheddar cheese on the top at the end.
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These were amazingly delicious. The honey mustard sticky glaze is broiled so it is thick and sticky. These disappeared with no small amount of fighting. With the price of chicken wings, these are an excellent alternative. My suggestion is to get out two crock pots and make a double batch. They are that good; otherwise you may be disappointed to have no leftovers.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
The lemony zucchini with slivers of basil hiding underneath and laying on top of a creamy layer of goat cheese mixed with lemon juice was very different from most pizzas in a very fresh tasting way. I made and used half of a batch of whole wheat pizza dough made in my bread machine. It would have been easier to brush the olive oil on top of the zucchini, rather than try to drizzle it and have great blobs on oil in just a few places, and then sprinkle the additional lemon juice on top. I do think that having a thin layer of oil and some coarse salt on top is critical for the success of this pizza. I did use Meyer lemon, but like conventional lemons just as well. This was a fun, quick recipe that was so delicious, there was just not enough of it.
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Website: Platinum Recipes Collection
www.platinumrecipescollection.com
Light chicken-broth based soup flavored with oregano, onion and zucchini cooked at the last minute. The lamb meatballs were sticky and needed to be handled gently. The fragrant soup was both light and filling with the lamb meatballs which I make less than 1” in diameter. The lemon slices squeezed into your bowl really make this soup special. This was enjoyed even by non-soup lovers. With salad and bread it made a great meal.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This was very reminiscent of Vegetarian Epicure’s Russian Vegetable Pie, but less fussy to make. I could not bear the thought of another very buttery crust, especially when the original recipe she mentioned called for a yeast version. I was able to find that recipe: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/splendid-table/recipes/bread_thanksgiving.html
I successfully used resuscitated dried mushrooms for the 4 ounces of fresh. I made this again the same way and even remembered the outstanding and simple horseradish sauce, it added a lot. I did not brush the outside of the galette with egg this time, but would the next time, it makes it more substantial and also looks even more beautiful.
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The smokey meaty taste of the bacon that was thrown in raw and discarded at the end added wonderful flavor without tasteless bits of meat floating around in the soup. Dried and fresh mushrooms added to the complexity of flavor. The addition of canned tomatoes and greens at the end (I substituted Mustard greens for Swiss chard) gave this bean soup a surprising fresh flavor making it more suitable for year-around dining. I used 19-bean mix as that was what I had on hand. The only change I would make next time is to cut the white mushrooms into spoon-size pieces. The quartered mushrooms were ridicuously large. Definately the best bean soup I have ever had.
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Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen
By Heidi Swanson
Ten Speed Press - 2011
These are indeed amazing, I like to try and keep a bag of them in the freezer. I prefer the walnuts over the almonds, but loved the suggestion of the dried fruit. Dates seem a little rich for hot Florida, but I love dried cherries. I threw in some dark chocolate chips with the cherries one time and they turned out a little dry, but were devoured instantly. This recipe seems to demand variation. Next I am trying dried mango! I had to have this cookbook to cook this recipe after reading Andrew's review. The only time I have had trouble with this recipe was when I absent mindedly added the sugar to the dry ingredients, instead of to the oil and maple syrup in the pot. Even though I tried to retrieve as much sugar as possible, it wasn't enough. That liquid sugar-oil is the needed liquid/binder. The result was very delicious and moist, but completely fell apart.
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Cook's Country Best Potluck Recipes
By Editors at Cook's Country Magazine
America's Test Kitchen - 2010
Delicious carrot cake in a cupcake form. It is not greasy, as oil is replaced with butter. I finely grated the carrots on my box grater as recommended, instead of taking the food processor option and the bright orange color evenly distributed was the reward. I am glad that I went to Whole Foods for currants (my local grocery stores do not stock them) and also used the roasted chopped walnut option. The creamy cream cheese frosting whipped up easily. The only downside is that this recipe makes it way too easy to have perfect carrot cake. As they suggested storing the frosting and cupcakes separately, I have served this as a frost-it-yourself cupcake and everyone had fun with that. This is my new favorite carrot cake recipe; I will not go back to those greasy oil-based recipes!
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This crunchy cucumber salad has a surprising bite of vinegar and just the right amount of dill. The beautiful juxtaposition of the red onion, pale cucumber, bright green flecks of fresh dill in a white creamy sour cream base is very refreshing. This recipe solves the problem of running or salty cucumber salads. The salted pressed cucumbers exude an amazing amount of liquid and I was delighted not to have to rinse off the cucumbers. I doubled this recipe by doing the mandolin slicing, salting and pressing twice. It made a large bowlful. Since I was making the salad the day before and you were supposed to serve it within 8 hours of making it, I held the pressed cucumbers overnight. In the morning I drained again and then added the dressing and chilled for 5 hours. It tasted very fresh.
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Deep chocolate flavor in a very moist cake. It whips up very quickly similar to a brownie and bakes in a short period of time. The roasted pecans lying on top of the icing make it as pretty as it is delicious. The directions worked perfectly and it was very popular, disappearing quickly.
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Website: All Recipes
I have not been able to cook any recipes with soy sauce (bad reaction to soy) until a colleague showed me this recipe. It turned out dark and real salty with some umami flavor and so seems like a great substitute. The next time I will try and find bouillon without MSG and substitute apple vinegar for balsamic to get rid of the sulfites.
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The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
By Ina Garten, Martha Stewart
Clarkson Potter - 1999
Big bold pieces of carrot were different than the usual matchstick cut and were easier to prepare. I hate boiled carrots, but love the concentrated flavor of these roasted carrots. They tasted sweet and almost like lemon juice had been added. This recipe needed to cook an extra 15 minutes for the largest carrot pieces, and I needed to remove the smaller pieces at intervals to prevent over cooking.
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My boys devoured this chicken and thought it should get a rating of 10 (on a 5 point scale). It was slightly sweet with a nice strong ginger taste that was not overpowering. I was excited to make this with my substitute soy sauce. I am not sure why she specifies “good honey”. I don’t cook with my best honey, but I don’t have any “bad” honey either. The marinade did not soak into all the chicken and I am not sure if that wasn’t because I split it into two pans. As mentioned previously an easy recipe that can easily be made up ahead.
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Light airy scones with great maple flavor and a use for those quick oats in the cupboard. I felt like I was back in the Maritime Provinces where maple-flavored baked goods were every where. The second time I made this recipe I remembered to add that pound of butter. The first time without the butter they rose higher and looked prettier, but tasted only slightly better than a boat anchor. I have frozen all that we did not eat at the first sitting and they taste just as fresh every time we defrost one. Like Queezle Sister I did not use a circle cutter, but cut mine into similar sized squares.
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Very flavorful and colorful and more complex than the usual cous cous recipe. The onions, parsley and curry gave it a bold flavor, and the grated carrot, currents, and dark greens of the parsley and scallion gave it a great visual appeal. I liked that this recipe did not call for chicken stock and enjoyed it as a vegetarian dish by itself. Although it also goes well with chicken.
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The dough came together reluctantly acting like pie dough without enough water. After chilling, it rolled out just fine. I would not have gotten 24 if I had followed the directions to roll them ½ inch thick and use a 3” heart cutter. My thickness was too variable ¼ to ½ inch and I used a 2” heart cutter. I dusted them with the smaller crystal size of natural cane sugar and they looked very nice and tasted like classic shortbread. This was a good classic recipe and next time I will roll them all 1/2 inch, but also cut out 1" hearts as well so that my son can more easily bear to part with them to share with his college friends.
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Slow Cooker Revolution
By The Editors at America's Test Kitchen, America's Test Kitchen
Boston Common Press - 2011
Fruity tender pork in a fruit sauce. I substituted dried mango for the dried apricot and used one cup of homemade apple sauce (The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook). I could not believe the price of thick pork chops and ended up with boneless country ribs which worked fine, but I needed to remove the top layer of fat at the end of cooking. It tasted good, but not overly sweet and just the right amount of dried fruit.
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The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook
By Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Cook's Illustrated - 2009
I made this hot, curry paste and coconut milk dish for my family, knowing that it would be so hot I would not even be able to try one bite. They absolutely loved it, fighting over the leftovers. I liked that it was full of vegetables and the fresh lime juice, basil and mint added at the finish were appreciated.
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The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
By Ina Garten, Martha Stewart
Clarkson Potter - 1999
A chunky dip full of sweet onion flavor. I followed Southern Cooker’s advice to use half of the oil and butter and agreed that it was hard to go the full 30 minutes so that all of the onions were nicely browned. I also used my handheld mixer, but had to pull the onions out of the bowl with the piles of sour cream, cream cheese and mayonnaise as I had not mixed them yet. In retrospect I think it would have worked fine to dump everything in at once and mix. It was a huge hit; we may never buy the mix again. I especially liked the reduction in salt.
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Perfectly cooked lentils as they were covered with boiling water and allowed to soak for 15 minutes first (no sawdust-like insides). A made a full recipe and everything fit into my largest stock pot except for all of that chicken stock. I love thick soups, so that was not a problem. I agree with aj12475 that it is healthy, delicious, and could easily be made vegetarian with a different stock. The two leeks seem to be the secret ingredient here that makes this lentil soup above the ordinary.
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The Grains Cookbook
By Bert Greene
Workman Publishing Company - 1988
My first attempt to cook quinoa turned out well. Pureed sautéed shallots and carrots were added to the chicken stock and simmered with the quinoa. Cumin was added at the end. I was afraid it would be soupy, and it was very soft, but OK. It tasted good without tasting like cooked pureed carrots. I think it makes a great lunch all by itself.
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Slow Cooker Revolution
By The Editors at America's Test Kitchen, America's Test Kitchen
Boston Common Press - 2011
The flavor is ginger-sweet tomato with a touch of heat. My boys say 10 points on a 5 point scale. You know we will be making these again. One teenage son was left alone to place all the wing parts on a rack prior to broiling. He said that was very dangerous as the chicken already tasted so great. The recipe takes 4 lb of chicken wings, I bought two 3 lb packages, which I cooked in each of 2 slow cookers, and broiled each batch separately as well. This may be the first time we have followed the broiling distance (10”) exactly according to the directions and that part worked perfectly. I suddenly realized that I could make this now that I have a soy sauce substitute. I haven’t tasted wings quite like this before, but we all agreed that they are perfect and even more delicious than the wonderful two chicken leg recipes.
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Blue Ribbon Breads
By Margie C. Jensen, Carole Wade, Jr. Arch Cheney, Borge B. Anderson and Associates
Country Kitchen Press - 1977
If you like Elephant Ears, you will love this mini- elephant ear version. I have been baking a version of this recipe for 24 years. I don’t make it very often, but it is great for a special occasion. This time I made a double batch for a bake sale. It is such buttery dough, that I kept the formed roll in the refrigerator at all times, except for the part I was rolling out. Instead of using half dark brown sugar and half white for the filling and for rolling, I substituted an equal amount of light brown sugar. I always have trouble with running out of the sugar cinnamon mixture for rolling out the crisps and with a double batch, it emphasized that for me. So I tried using just enough so that the dough did stick a little as apposed to seeing how much sugar I could make stick – the results were very different. With as much sugar as possible, they could be rolled out thinner, were very crispy, covered with a delightful layer of melted sugar but the cinnamon swirl going through the center could not really be visualized. Also, it was imperative to use parchment to keep them from burning, repeated scrubbing your pan, etc. I found I really liked the less sugary version, they were thicker, but you could actually taste the flakey pastry and it still did taste sweet enough.
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The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook
By Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Cook's Illustrated - 2009
OK, so it took me 6 ½ hours of near constant activity to produce one pan of totally amazing pecan rolls. The first time I made this recipe using the cookbook for that year of the TV show, I went out and bought the pan specified, a tall sided non-stick 9X13” metal pan. Making these for a bake sale was not one of my better ideas as you will want to keep and eat them yourself after all of that work. In addition to making the dough, filling and caramel glaze for the pan, you also make the pecan topping separately. Unfortunately I let them over bake a little and then went to sleep after turning them out of the pan and so they did not get covered on a timely basis, and so were a little dry. But these were still quite spectacular with all of that sticky caramel and crunchy pecans on top and they brought a very good price individually at the bake sale. Well worth the effort if you hanker for an amazing pecan roll experience.
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Website: Peter Ostroushko
www.peterostroushko.com/recipearchive
You don't think you like sauerkraut? This is actually just half sauerkraut with all the juices squeezed out, and half cabbage. I am still getting used to having a mandoline, and I kept cutting until I had taken off an equivalent weight of cabbage to the sauerkraut. The onion is sauteed and then the cabbages are added and cooked for a long time. This is the way the Ukrainian ladies that immigrated a long time ago make it for Church. They recommend using a slow cooker for making big batches. They had some other secrets, which I made the mistake of not writing down, but will try and find out and add later. This must be served with a really good kielbasa and boiled potatoes for an authentic meal.
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The Grains Cookbook
By Bert Greene
Workman Publishing Company - 1988
The chewy barley simmered in chicken broth with sautéed onions, garlic and arugula (I used all arugula instead of half Swiss chard) and just a touch of prosciutto. This is supposed to purify sluggish winter blood or rejuvenate after a night on the town and was perfect the day after a full day of eating at the Disney Food and Wine Festival. I love barley, and this was a new way to cook it for me. This was completely amazing; it was as pretty as it was tasty. I will cook it again soon.
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Goat cheese was the secret ingredient that made this dish creamy and gave it a bit of a surprising flavor. The rice is cooked and used hot and I found that by the time I had prepped and cooked all the other ingredients, the rice had just finished cooking in the rice cooker. Onions and garlic are sautéed and the zucchini cooked until the liquid disappears. I chose the bouillon option and used the full amount of chicken base as I had used no other salt, not even to cook the rice, but next time I would only use half, the taste was too strong. This does not look outstanding, but makes up for that in flavor. My only complaint is that the amount cooked seemed small as it was so very good. You may want to consider making a double batch. Especially if you want to have some leftover for his suggestion to incorporate roasted chicken to make a good lunch.
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The Pie and Pastry Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
Scribner - 1998
This turned out to be a crisp flavorful, delicious crust. I only had unbleached white flour, so I added one third whole wheat flour so it would not turn out tough. I made it for the empanadas and it worked very well for that. This dough requires a lot of chilling, so plan for plenty of time, it is worth the wait. My only disappointment was that I did not notice that 1 ½ of a recipe was called for, and so I was short. I rolled each piece of dough to the 6” circle on my new pastry mat and then evened up the edges when forming the empanadas, instead of rolling out an individual piece and cutting out a circle with a template. (Thanks to Queezel Sister for noticing that grams were more sensitive than ounces, I have been weighing everything in grams and it is working well.) I wanted to try the author’s suggestion to bake the scraps for snacks; you will want more when you taste it.
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Perfectly amazing interesting spiced beef filling. I wanted to add the optional green olives and raisins, but had to make do with capers and currents. They were wonderful and I would make it that way again. Don’t leave out the additional ingredients, they add a nice pop of contrasting flavor. Read the crust directions carefully, I did not notice that I needed 1 ½ recipes of the Flaky Cheddar Crust (that I choose to make from all the options). I really liked this crust with the filling. I suggest making a double batch if you make the Cheddar crust so you have extra for baking the leftovers for snacks (as she suggests). This was the first time that I made empanadas that were not soggy at all!
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You really have to have faith to make this recipe. I weighed the flour and sugar. I used bread machine yeast so I skipped the proofing step. But I added the proofing water into the buttermilk (I chose that option over the cream). My dough was so wet that I could not shape it into a ball, but after the four hours of chilling, it rolled out beautifully much to my surprise. But the dough was so soft that as they rose they tilted. Next time I will leave out that extra water. They tasted like potato rolls with that satisfying heartiness even though they were very soft and light. The secret ingredient was grated hard-cooked egg yolks. Very good directions including to not use the self rising flour to roll them out in. This was my first use of self rising flour, and I was able to find the White Lily brand. I was a little confused about putting the water in a bread pan on the middle shelf to preheat, then what? But I just assumed that you leave it in place and cook the biscuits on the bottom shelf. I did that and placed the baking sheet on the oven stone and the bottoms were too browned even though the tops were just golden. The next time I will try my air sheet pan. I had stopped using it for biscuits as I found they did not rise as high on it, but this is a whole new recipe and there was a lot of rise in those biscuits. Very special biscuits, just plan lots of time for rising and chilling and realize that you will end up with only 9 very lovely biscuits.
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