Peach Upsidedown Cake

I'm happy to report that my Pear & Apple Crisp went over very well with the residents where I work. Last week, once again, I came on shift & was confronted with a large quantity of fruit that needed transformation: this time, locally-picked peaches.

I didn't have a lot of time to get creative with these because there was a lot of hospital baking to do for the day, and that is my priority. I had to opt for something quick & easy, so I decided to make a Peach Upsidedown Cake using cake mixes my work always has on hand for when they are in a pinch.

Luckily, peaches are much easier to peel than your typical apple or pear, and the stone in the middle just needs popping out so there is no coring to do - excellent time-savers!

I mixed the sliced peaches with sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I put this in the bottom of a chafing dish. Then I made two French vanilla cake mixes and poured the the mixture over the peaches. Into the oven, and voila!Just under an hour later, this is what we got. I was a little nervous about this because of the fruit on the bottom. I was worried the cake wouldn't cook properly and it would be raw around where the fruit & fruit juice was. We'll see. It certainly smelled excellent!

Magazine Monday #49: Apple Tart

This is what I was hinting at on Friday's post about the transparent apples: Apple Tart. This is such a simple recipe I almost didn't think it would be all that spectacular. I couldn't have been more wrong, and making this brought home the lesson "less is more."

Recipe is here, from a back issue of Bon Appetit.

The crust recipe alone was an excellent discovery, and I used it in another upcoming post, and think it's a great go-to recipe for when you just need a simple single-crust pastry recipe, or a quick base for squares.

I didn't make the caramel sauce - I didn't have any whipping cream and I was lazy. So, instead, to give this some extra flavour, to keep the apples moist, and to add some visual appeal, I brushed the baked tart, still hot out of the oven, with melted butter. This melded wonderfully with the spices in the filling.

This is a very quick, very easy recipe to put together, and the results are elegant. And they also make a great breakfast, with some vanilla yogurt. Trust me!

OK, so this is my last time hosting Magazine Mondays, and Ivonne will be back next week. I want to thank all of you who participated for sending me their links! It's been a slice, guys!

Also, just to let you know, I'm away most of this week, so you will be enjoying posts courtesy of Blogger's scheduled posts feature, but I won't be around visiting at least until Friday. Have a great week!

Joining me this week with their Magazine Monday contributions are: no one. *sniff sniff*

Saturday Laugh

Transparent Apples & Magazine Monday Reminder

First, the reminder: Monday is once again Magazine Monday, and this will be the last time I host, as our usual host, Ivonne of Creampuffs in Venice, will be back from her travels and will return to her MM hosting duties for the Sept. 21 edition of MM. So, if you've made a magazine recipe recently and would like me to feature it in my own MM post on Monday, send me an email at wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca with the link to your post and I'll include it.

Onto apples. It's apple season here, and the other day my roommate said she'd spoken to the neighbour, who owns the house right next to ours, and the neighbour said we were welcome to the apples on the tree there. I didn't realize they were ripe as they were still a pale green colour, but apparently, that's just the variety. My roommate, J, said that she & her family call this particular type of apple "transparents" and some of her family members say that these transparents are excellent for apple sauce and apple pie. So, off I went to pick a bag full and bring them home.

The tree was absolutely laden with apples, and there were lots of the fruit on the ground, too. The apples on the tree were in generally good condition, not very wormy-looking. But it appeared that I'd gotten there a tad bit too late, because some of the fruit were rotting on the tree and the apples left were very soft. I picked a cloth grocery bag full and took them off home, where I planned on turning most of my booty into apple pie filling. I'm not a huge user of apple sauce, and I thought it would be cool to have some pre-made, homemade apple pie filling around over the winter for pies & crumbles.

Well...I had good intentions, for sure. But the apples wouldn't co-operate. After peeling & corning for what seemed like ages - and soaking the peelless apples in a lemony water bath to keep the browning at bay - and then slicing, I had two pots full of apples.

I added a bit of water, and a cup or so of sugar and brought the apples to a boil. I didn't think they'd disintegrate into much so quickly or easily. I added ginger, cinnamon, all spice, and nutmeg, and let them simmer. I then made a slurry with some flour (cornstarch thickened stuff sometimes doesn't freeze well) and added it to the bubbling apples. The mixture tightened up right away, so I put the whole sha-bang out on the porch to cool down as quickly as possible. This attracted some wasps, even though the lid was firmly on the pot.

Here is what the end result looked like:

And here is the pie filling ready to freeze. I got 14 cups plus a little left over for snacking on.

Yes, it's mushy & doesn't look like the greatest pie filling in the world, but it'll do, and I was grateful for the free apples!

I also made a tart with the apples, but that is for an upcoming post, so you'll have to wait & see the results (hint: excellent)!

Cooking With Kylie: Mongolian Beef

So, at the local overpriced grocery store the other day, this coyote came upon a screaming deal: 1.5kg local, organic, lean ground beef for $7.50. It was my lucky day! I picked up and brought it home, packaging it up and freezing it. I had a half pound portion, and decided to make this recipe by Kylie Kwong that I'd bookmarked when I got my copy of Simple Chinese Cooking.

I present to you Mongolian Beef!

I made a half recipe, and instead of using cabbage I bought a package of coleslaw mix, which is one of my stir-frying allies. I love it!

Now, the cookbook recipe calls for shao hsing wine and I notice that the recipe on the web site has changed it to rice wine. I had neither. When I got the cookbook, I looked everywhere I could in this one horse district for shao hsing wine but to no avail. The cookbook says you can substitute the wine for dry sherry, but I am too cheap to do that, so I bought a bottle of cooking sherry from the local inexpensive but butt-ugly big box grocery store. I have no idea how the flavours compare, but we do what we can, right?

The verdict: great recipe! Simple, as you might expect. I didn't do the step of combining the cabbage with the salt because I was lazy, and perhaps I'd have had a more complexly flavoured dish, but still, I wasn't disappointed. Thank you, Kylie!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

Ah, the continuing saga of my wonky appetite! Why I wanted this flavour combination of all things right now is beyond me, but want it I did. I knew I wanted something with chocolate in it, but not too much chocolate. And I was craving pumpkin...Yes, I am aware it isn't pumpkin season, but luckily I had some in the freezer. I loved the Pumpkin, Chocolate Chip, & Cranberry Cookies I made previously, but wasn't in the mood to make cookies. I could have sworn that in one of my recent food magazines I'd seen a recipe for chocolate chop loaf, but I searched and searched & couldn't find it. So, I resorted to Google and found this recipe from an old issue of Gourmet. It looked perfect for what I was desiring.

And it turned out excellently! My oven was a bit off, so the crust got a little dark & chewy in places, but this loaf/cake had a lovely texture and the subtle spicing was very nice. I didn't use pumpkin pie spice because I don't have any, so I used my own combination of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and all spice. Worked great. My house filled up with the most amazing smell as it baked...

I can't wait for pumpkin season!

101 Uses for a Roast Chicken #19: Chicken & Ramen Salad

My mom used to make this great salad with cabbage, ramen noodles, some kind of nut, and a few other things. Alas, I no longer have the recipe. And I for some reason have had this salad on my mind lately... So, I decided to make my own version using some roast chicken, veggies, and a dressing I whipped out of my you-know-what based on what I remember of my mom's recipe. Here's what I did.

Chicken & Ramen Salad

1 package ramen noodles,

1 cup roast chicken

1 can sliced water chestnuts

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1 cup carrots cut into matchsticks

1 can miniature corn, sliced lengthwise, then in half

For the dressing:

seasoning packet from the noodles

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp soy sace

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp rice vinegar

1. Break the noodles up into small-ish chunks & run under hot water for a few minutes. You want them soft, but still retaining a bit of crunch.

2. Combine salad ingredients in a bowl & toss.

3. To make dressing, whisk ingredients together. Add to ramen mixture & toss.

4. Enjoy!

It was very good! Not as good as my mom's, but still very good. Vary the veggies if you want - this is what I had in my pantry.

On another note, Dave of My Year on the Grill is having a giveaway! Go here for details on how to win a copy of Steve Raichlen's How to Grill.

Magazine Monday #48 & 101 Uses for a Roast Chicken #18: Lemon Basil Chicken

At the beginning of the summer, my good friend Pierce of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor fame sent me & Juno some goodies and part of the packing material was the Feb/March 2009 issue of Taste of Home. My grandmother actually used to send me a subsciption to this magazine way back in the day, and I see it's improved considerably since then. There are quite a few recipes from this issue I intend on trying out.

This Monday, however, I present you with Lemon Basil Chicken. As you all know, I do love roasting chickens, which is why this post also qualifies as part of my 101 Uses for a Roast Chicken series in addition to being my weekly Magazine Monday contribution. Since I have some jaundiced basil languishing in my garden, I thought this was the perfect time to put some of it out of its misery (and mine - basil does not like me or my garden for some weird reason).

Lemon Basil Chicken

1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, divided (OK, I used way more than this)

1/4 cup minced fresh basil, divided

1 broiler/fryer chicken

2 tbsp butter, melted

salt & pepper

1. Zest whole lemon. Cut lemon in half and juice one half. Set aside the other half.

2. Slice one garlic clove. Place sliced garlic, 2 tbsp basil, and remaining lemon half in the chicken cavity.

3. Place chicken, breast side up, in roasting pan. Rub with reserved lemon juice. Mince remaining garlic & combine with butter & reserved lemon peel. Brush mixture over chicken. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, & remaining basil.

4. Roast until done. Let stand for 15 minutes before carving.

OK. Butter on top of a chicken? Um, this doesn't work for me - even though I was willing to give it a sporting chance. All it did was drip off into the drippings. It added nothing to the taste or texture or look of the chicken. So, I won't do that again. Otherwise, this was a nice easy dish and I love lemon, basil, and garlic together. This would have been just as nice without the butter part. So, a bit of a disappointing recipe, but a good learning experience.

Joining me this week with their magazine experiments:

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made this luscious Cinnamon Chocolate Twist bread from Canadian Living.

Kylie of Thin Crust, Deep Dish made Peanut Sesame Noodles and a Cucumber Salad from a couple of Gourmet back issues.

Pierce of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made yummy chicken marsala from an issue of Family Circle.

Saturday Laugh

Oh, how this made me LOL!

Breakfasts of Champions

Just a light Friday post, featuring some recent breakfasts.

But first, remember that Magazine Monday is coming up this Monday, so if you have made a magazine recipe you'd like me to link to, please send you submissions in by Sunday evening. My email is wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca. Thanks!

Now, breakfast.

1. Huckleberry Gruel.

Sounds Dickensian - sort of - doesn't it? I think this sounds slightly more interesting than huckleberry oatmeal. But I do have to say, I like my oatmeal a little thinner than most people, so even though it's not as watery as a gruel, it's definitely not the stick-to-your-ribs kind of oatmeal that is more popular. I had this bowl with some maple syrup and it was a great breakfast! I love the colour huckleberries turn everything.

2. Ah, left over Chinese food - the breakfast of champions! On Monday, I went out on a girls night to have dinner & see a movie. Since the big theatre is in Castlegar, we chose to go to Chopsticks for dinner. Because of my appetite issues, this was great for me because I had such a wide variety of things to choose from, and I made sure to get stuff that I could take home as decent leftovers, too. I love leftover Chinese food for breakfast, just like I love leftover pizza for breakfast! So, I got a Wor Won Ton (the best!), only ate half of it, and had the rest wrapped up, and I got a combination plate that included chow mein, deep fried prawns, sweet & sour pork, and beef with greens. Excellent! I ate half of it, too, and brought the rest home for breakfast. It was fabulous!

Pear & Apple Crisp for a Crowd

My lastest work project on the dessert front included a huge bag of locally grown pears, picked by the folks at the residents.

The cook and I mulled over the possibilities we had within our bugetary limitations, and decided simple was best: pear crisp. Who doesn't love a good crisp? And my strawberry rhubarb one from a couple of weeks ago was a hit, so we thought it would be a good bet. (Incidentally, the chocolate strawberry shortcakes were also a HUGE hit!)

What I hadn't anticipated was the nuisance of peeling all the pears, and I had some time restrictions to work around. After I'd made my daily muffin quota, I had to peel like a maniac to get enough pears for a crisp that had to feed about 35 people. The cook helped me peel, but I knew it wasn't going to work. Luckily, there was a whole bucket of apple pie filling in the fridge, so I decided to make this a pear & apple crisp.

I gave myself 35 minutes to peel as many pears as I could. To this I added 1 cup of brown sugar, 4 tbsp cornstarch, and some cinnamon & nutmeg.

Then I scooped in a whole pile of apple pie filling. This stuff is so good I could just eat it by the spoonful!

I then mixed the pear & apple fillings together in the pan.

Onto the topping: 4 cups oats, 1 cup flour, 1 cup packed brown sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg, and about 1 1/4 cups cold margarine (no butter at this place, but I make do).

It smelled great as it cooked, let me tell you! Alas, my shift ended before it came out of the oven, so I'll have to wait for my next shift to get any feedback. I'm pretty confident that they liked this, though!

Bacon Mayo

Eons ago (OK it was last September, so nearly a year, then) I reviewed a book called Fat, by Jennifer McLagan. It's a very thought-provoking book to say the least, and after reading I decided to become a hoarder of fat.

When I say "hoarder of fat" I mean that in the mildest of ways. I skimmed all the beef fat off of my braised beef ribs to use in McLagan's cornish pasty recipe, wrapping it well after letting it solidify, and then freezing it. It's still there. I also started collecting my bacon fat whenever I cooked bacon. Because I don't eat that much bacon, and I tend to buy leaner bacon to begin with, it took me just over 11 months to save up the 1/2 cup of bacon fat required for McLagan's Bacon Mayonnaise recipe found on page 101. I kept the fat in a small ramekin, covered at all times, in my fridge. I finally, finally had half a cup last week.

Here is the recipe.

Bacon Mayonnaise, from Fat by Jennifer McLagan, page 101

1 egg yolk

3/4 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Sea salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/2 cup liquid bacon fat

Combine egg yolk, mustard, & lemon juice in small bowl of a food processr or blender and process to mix. Season with salt & pepper.

Have the bacon fat liquid but not hot. With the machine running, gradually add bacon fat until the mixture starts to stiffen & emulsify, about 2 minutes. Once it begins to emulsify, add the fat more quickly. Adjust seasoning. If it's too thick, thin with 1 tsp of boiling water.

I have a small food processor but even so, the yolk/mustard/lemon juice mixture was too small an amount to properly mix in the food processor. I ended up having to whisk everything in a bowl by hand after the first ingredients kind of stuck to the bottom of the food processor bowl.

Here is the finished product:

It tasted...OK. Not overpoweringly of bacon, surprisingly. In fact, it was a tad bland. To test it out, I put in on a great burger I made, served with grilled veggies.

It actually complemented the burger a lot, lending it a bacony flavour and an extra juiciness to the meat, since the mayo basically melted when it came into contact with the hot burger. Will this replace Hellmann's for me? No way. I can't see this being as versatile as Hellmann's and it just isn't the same. But it was a good experiement.

No, no more bacon fat hoarding!

Kylie Kwong's Soy Sauce Eggs

Over the winter, I bought myself a copy of Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking with an Amazon gift certificate my good friend Jodi gave me. And I am just now getting around to trying out a recipe!

I might venture into one of those food blogging trends a la Julie & Julia, where I cook my way through a cookbook & blog about it. I think this Kwong cookbook is a good place to start. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, with my weird appetite issues, which persist, unfortunately, I for some reason remembered this recipe and it really appealed to me at the time. It looked simple enough and the flavour combination intrigued me. I made half a recipe to start out with in case I didn't like them.

The recipe is here.

Here is a look at my process, from the beginning. My hard boiled eggs went into the soy sauce mixture, after mixture camed to a boil.

The cartouche part didn't really work for me, and I didn't see the point of it. When I placed it on the eggs, it kept the steam in and would bubble to the top. It got annoying to keep letting the steam out so the cartouche wouldn't fly away on me, so I tried the lid of the pot. It boiled over. So, I simmered without any covering, just making sure to keep the eggs basted in the liquid. This worked fine.

This recipe takes a long time - an hour of braising. Here are the eggs half-way through.

And here they are at the end, by which time the soy sauce mixture had reduced to a thick syurp. BTW, I didn't use the fresh ginger, I used 2 tsp of ground.

They don't look terribly appetizing at this point...

And here they are plated...I couldn't resist the googly-eyed face...

These taste delicious, but the drawback is that it's a lot of work for not a lot of end product. The outer part of the egg was a little rubbery, but not off-puttingly so. I might make a larger batch for a special occasion.

I wonder what I'll do next?

Magazine Monday #46: Bean & Barley Salad

Before we get to my recipe selection for this week, answer me this simple question: which of these things is not like the other:Yeah, one of my 8 or 9 bean plants is producing green beans. They are tough and stringy and not very good - obviously the product of a bad seed. Hmph.

Anyhoo, let's get onto today's MM recipe. Since I have beans coming out of the old wazoo, I have to start getting creative with how I use them, or else I'll become bored very easily. So, I found this recipe in Canadian Living's July 2009 issue while looking for a side dish to serve with the huckleberry pork loin I made.

Recipe here.

I made a few substitutions. I used spinach instead of arugula and I used cider vinegar instead of the white wine vinegar. All in all, this was a great salad! Light, hearty, nourishing, nutritious - a huge hit. Definitely a keeper!

Also joining me this week:

Cathy of Accountants Can Cook? made a roasted cauliflower risotto from Canadian Living's most recent issue.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made an absolutely mouthwatering Chanterelle Carbonara from German magazine Essen & Trinken.

Saturday Laugh