Garlicy Bisquit Topping

This stuff is sprinkled on top of a large pan of biscuits and is suitable for serving with a dinner stew or fried chicken. Originally it was designed as a dipping sauce for bread, rolls or bread sticks.

Back in 2010, I documented my bisquit recipe. It is titled "One or Two Biscuits" but later I added the ingredient quantities for 28 buiscuits, which is a whole cookie sheet full for my large cookie sheet.

I found the basis for this at http://www.controllingmychaos.com where you can search for "carino" and find it.

Mix the following together in a small food processor or spice grinder:

• 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, tough stems removed keeping the leaves and soft stem ends and chopped
• 1 tsp dried parsley (twice that if fresh and chop it)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (like for pizza)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper (or 1 tsp whole pepper corns)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or dried garlic shavings or slices)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Pulse just enough to thoroughly mix and chop/grind things finely.

Make the pan of biscuits and cook for 5 minutes. Do the next steps quickly.

1. remove from the oven
2. spray to top with olive oil
3. sprinkle the dry mixture evenly across the top. Use it all.
4. rush it back into the oven

Finish cooking the biscuits as described over there.

Indian Chicken

The secret of this chicken is the marinade. It gives it a distinctly Asian-Indian flavor. Mix up the marinade and soak a chicken for at least an hour--maybe overnight. The turmeric will make it a bright yellowish color.

Create the marinade in a one-gallon zip-top bag:. If you use whole spices, put all dry spices (up to the coriander but not including the ginger, if its fresh) in a spice grinder together and pulse it to turn them to fresh powder before adding.

Marinade

• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper (or 1 tsp whole black pepper)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground paprika
• 1 tsp ground cardamon (perhaps whole black cardamon would work)
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin (or 1 rounded tsp whole cumin)
• 1 tsp  ground coriander (or 2 tsp whole coriander)
• 1 tsp ground ginger (or 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh peeled ginger)
• 1 Tbsp finely minced garlic
• 2 tsp olive oil (or other vegetable oil)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (or lime juice)
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste (optional)

Zip the top shut and "massage" to mix the spices into the lemony yogurt.

Take one whole chicken that is not frozen and

• optionally remove the skin
• optionally cut along the side of the backbone so it can open flat

Then put it in the bag, zip it up and get the marinade all around the chicken.

Then let it set in the refrigerator. 20 minutes is the practical minimum. Overnight works well. I don't know how long you could leave it and still get a good result.

There are several ways you can cook it. You want some variety of baking and/or broiling. All the usual checks for doneness apply. (Check the temperature or cut it open in the thickest part and make sure its not too pink or, on an unopened chicken, check the way the thigh joint feels for looseness.)

Three options for cooking

•  A whole, unopened chicken can be roasted or baked, breast up in a convection oven for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. If baking, use 400 degrees F. That time covers a normal 5 pound chicken. Add about 15 minutes per pound above that. Cook until done. (In a conventional oven, it will take a bit longer and won't be just right in the crispness.)
• An opened chicken can be broiled in the oven or over a gas flame or charcoal. The heat goes on the bony side first. So put bones up in the oven or down on a grill. Cook that one side until the tips become blackened. That would be between 15 and 30 minutes depending on the temperature. Turn it over and broil (or bake if in an oven) the other side toward the heat until done. 
• You can bake at 235 degrees F for about three hours. At that point, turn up the heat or broil until done. It won't be too long. This turns out very tender but its hard to get the outside properly crisp.

Beans (the sequel)

Last year, I put my bean recipe in and suggested I might expand on it later. It's later.

Here is the original Beans  recipe from Aug 2011, so follow that recipe until you have them mostly cooked.

This doesn't work if you put the beans on to cook in the morning and head off to work. You have to be able to doctor the pot about two hours before you are ready to eat. Here's what you add for 2 cups of dry beans (when you started):

• 3 Tbsp finely chopped red onion (or substitute yellow or white onion)
• 1/2 c chopped green chile (better if you don't use the mild, canned ones)
• 1 - 16 oz can whole stewed tomatoes
• 1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp white pepper (or black pepper)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Feel free to estimate those quantities as it doesn't matter much as long as you are close to what's listed.

Stir well and finish the last 2 hours of cooking on high.

I still don't put any salt in the beans. Sometimes they get some from the meat. It's hard to tell how much to add. Most people like to salt their own beans the way they like it. Mostly, these have enough flavor that nobody misses the salt.

One Loaf of Bread

I like "The Joy of Cooking" so much, I have three copies. One from the 1940's. One from the 1970's. and one from the 2000's. This recipe is adapted from a recipe there (the 70's edition) for plain white bread. My wife used to make it a lot and perfected the process. Most changes are just reducing the quantities and ordering the mixing to reduce the number of dishes to wash.

In 1 c. measuring cup stir and set aside. This needs to set long enough to form a bit of foam from the yeast coming alive.

• ¾ c. warm water
• 1 TB sugar
• Large pinch of flour.
• 1 TB yeast

Add in to a glass mixing bowl:

• ½ tsp salt
• 4 TB sugar
• 3 TB lard (or shortening but lard tastes better)

Microwave just long enough to melt the lard. Add in:

• 3 c. flour
• 1 egg (beaten)
•  The contents of the 1 cup measure (yeast, sugar and water)

Stir togethr. Knead and add 1 c. flour at a time until gluten is formed and dough gets that stretchy, rubbery feeling. (It also gets harder to knead.)

Form a single ball, cover with some oil or shortening or maybe just a warm wet towel and let set for 1 ½ hours. It should double in size. Notice that letting the dough rise in a warm place will take a shorter time than a colder one. Somewhere between 70 and 85 F is a good temperature. Cooler will just take longer.

 

For rolls:

After the dough doubles in size, punch down and knead some more. Then form into rolls--which means they should be balls around the size of a golf ball--about 1.5 inches (3 cm). The rolls go on a heavily greased cookie sheet just close enough to barely touch. (Helpful hint: If you stretch the surface of the ball smooth on top and poke the edge of the smooth part into the bottom of the roll, they will be prettier and you will avoid overdone sharp edges.)

Let rise 1 ½ hrs more.

You can serve from the cookie sheet or let it set about 3 minutes before removing the rolls to a cloth covered serving pan or basket.

Bake at 350* for 5-10 min.

Reduce to 325* for 15-25 min. until done.

For a loaf:

After the dough doubles in size, punch down and knead some more. Then form into one loaf. Put it in a heavily greased bread pan. (Helpful hint: If you stretch the dough around one side and poke the edges in on the bottom, it will look prettier.)

Let rise 1 ½ hrs more.

Bake at 375* for 10-15 min.

Reduce to 350* for 15-25 min. until done.

(The loaf will sound hollow if you tap it on the bottom when it is done. Test this way quickly in case you have to put it back. You don't want it cooling in that case.)

Remove from the pan immediately. Let the loaf set on a raised rack for about 5 minutes before slicing.