Archive | January, 2010

Failed Bread and Tuna Noodle Casserole

8 Jan

I was watching Chef Academy, again, and they made this bread that looked heavenly stuffed with cheese.  How do you get better than baked goods filled with cheese?  I had never made bread, but having made many a baked good in the past, I figured I could get some kneading practice in.  They made it look so easy.

Literally the next day I pulled up the recipe online and it seemed simple enough.  I was careful to measure well and concentrate on what I was doing (I’m usually a pretty hap hazard baker… I know… hand slap for me). I followed the first 2 directions:

For the Bread:

1. In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, butter and yeast.

2. Stir in the water and mix into a soft dough.

As soon as I added the water (1 quart) to the flour (1 pound) I knew something was wrong.  It just looked too much like paper mache and not enough like dough.  I thought maybe the flour would thicken it so I mixed… and mixed… and mixed.  Soft dough was not to be had.

So I looked back and determined it was the flour to water ratio that was off and added more flour.  And I mixed and I mixed… and I added flour and I added flour… and this is what happened:

I couldn’t even make it into a ball.  I think by the time I had realized the ratios were off and added more flour, the yeast had already reacted (or something) and it was an EPIC FAIL.  On top of that, I noticed that the ingredients list sugar but it didn’t say anywhere in the recipe when to add the sugar.  It was at this point that I cursed Chef Novelli.

It was a sticky mess that made a mess of everything.

Including my pretty brand new Kitchenaid.  ::Pout::

So I had now had my biggest cooking fail since hermetically sealing a pot in college (WHOOPS!) and I still had to do SOMETHING for dinner.  Luckily yet another cooking show (Top Chef finale… I’m such a food television sucker) had me craving tuna noodle casserole and I had everything in stock.  So total change of plans and I had this assembled in less than 10 minutes and I was thinking to myself “why don’t I make this ridiculously easy casserole more often?”

Mmmm… layers:

It turned out decent, though a little plain.  I think I need to find a way to spice this up a bit.  And add roasted garlic.  Mmmmm.

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RECIPE
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Since the bread recipe was obviously ENTIRELY WRONG, I won’t reiterate it here.  I have a new bread recipe from my friend, Lillian, so once I succeed with that, I’ll post it.

TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

  • 1 (8 ounce) package wide egg noodles
  • 1/4 cup butter, cubed
  • 4 slices american cheese (I used shredded since it was on hand)
  • 1 (6 ounce) can tuna, drained
  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/4 cup bread crumbs
  • Optional: Canned peas

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
  2. In a 1 1/2 quart glass casserole dish, layer noodles, butter cubes, 2 slices of cheese, 1/2 of the tuna, and 1/2 of the soup. Repeat the layering with the remaining ingredients. Top the casserole with bread crumbs. (ok… I didn’t layer… I stirred it all together… oops.)
  3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 to 15 minutes. (mine took some additional time)

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Homemade Tomato Sauce and Baked Tilapia in Wine and Shallots

7 Jan

I am inspired, quite often, by cooking shows. Especially the ones where they break down things and give you tips on how to make it scrumptious.  While I now absolutely hate Chef Academy for steering me wrong on making bread (more on that in a few days), at this point I did not hold such contention and decided to make a homemade tomato sauce.  I basically had almost none of the ingredients and only had grape tomatoes, but I figured it would still be good. I also added leftover mushrooms to the mix and it was delish!

I bought some packages pappardelle (my fave) and put the sauce over it. Scrumptious.


We needed some protein, so I went to the local fish market/store and bought Tilapia.  The fish guy said he prefers it backed with shallots and butter, so that’s just what I did (though I think I added some white wine as well).

This was just ehh.  The first was a little bland and the sauce just didn’t have caliber next to that tomato sauce.

The recipe from the show can be found here. I went without the star anise (this seems to be everywhere lately! wtf?) and vanilla pod and only had dried thyme and basil.   I also added it all the beginning (with WAY more garlic and a bit of tomato paste) and then let it cook down for about two hours.

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Cranberry Apple Pie/Cranberry Nut Cake

5 Jan

I love dessert.  Really… really love dessert.  I was given a recipe from my lovely cousin, Adena, when I sent out a Facebook request for how to use up leftover fresh cranberries in my fridge.  She sent a very easy recipe that I proceeded to modify for the sole reason that I do not love cranberries.  They are just too tart for me.  My solution? Add apples and more sugar!  It was a success.  The recipe also called to just put the berries into the pie plate and then top them, but I had a frozen pie crust in the freezer so I decided “why not?”

The fruit concoction was then topped with eggs, sugar, flour, butter, and oil.

We sprinkled the top with cinnamon and it browned up purrrrrfectly.

It was a perfect center too.

I’m pretty sure this was polished off in just a few days.  WHOOPS!

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RECIPE
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Cranberry Nut Cake/(My comments in parenthesis for how to change it to a Cranberry Apple Pie)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups cranberries- 1 bag (or lessen this to add slices of 1-2 apples)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 cup sugar (or a bit more if you don’t love cranberries)
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 5 Tbsp Oil
  • (Pie crust)

Directions:

  1. Wash berries (and peel, core, and slice apples) and put in bottom of 8” or 9” pie plate (or pie crust if you’d rather)
  2. Sprinkle with brown sugar and nuts (or mix it all together in a separate bowl and then pour in. Add extra sugar directly to fruit if you want it sweeter)
  3. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and then slowly add sugar
  4. Stir in flour, butter, and oil
  5. Pour over cranberries (and apples)
  6. (Sprinkle top with cinnamon)
  7. Bake at 325 for 50 minutes

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