Breakfast Time

Noticeably cooler yesterday and today. Seemed like Cinnamon Scone weather. I absolutely love this recipe. It is from 101Sweets.com. I think that is the original post. This is the link that I found it on, Click Here. I did make a couple of changes from the original recipe.

I did not have buttermilk, I usually make a substitute of milk and lemon juice for buttermilk. But this time I used plain yogurt.

Maura, the woman who cuts my hair, said when she makes scones she freezes the butter and then uses a food grater to shred it into the flour. I was intrigued. I tried it and love the results.

I decided to make smaller scones, not using my scone pan. This time I used my food scale and measured 16 pieces out and shaped them into circles using a biscuit/cookie cutter.

This is my version -

Cinnamon Chip Scones -
(makes 16)

Ingredients-

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar, plus additional for dusting
1 stick butter, freeze before using
1 cup cinnamon chips 
1 egg, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain yogurt

Method-
Combine the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and sugar. 
Shred the butter using a grater. 
Mix in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. 
Stir in the cinnamon chips. 
Combine the egg yolk, the vanilla and the yogurt; stir this into the dry ingredients until just combined. 
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 6-10 turns. 
Divide the dough into 16 pieces. I used a food scale for this. 
Shape each piece into a circle, here I used a biscuit cutter.
Brush each circle with lightly beaten egg white, dust it with sugar and transfer the scones to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-22 minutes, until golden brown. 
Cool on a wire rack; after 5 minutes, cover loosely with a dish towel until completely cool.

You can freeze what you do not need, unless you want to eat them all!

Classic Osso Buco

Yesterday I was out shopping with my sister and on the way home, we stopped at Ferrarro's Meat Market. I was hoping to pick up sandwich steaks for tonight's dinner. What I got instead was Osso Buco. Wow! What a fantastic dinner! I found an easy recipe on the Cooking with Nonna site. So good!

Classic Osso Buco from Rossella’s Cooking with Nonna.

Ingredients-
4 veal shank steaks approx 1 inch thick
2 cups tomato sauce
1 cup red wine
3 carrots diced
2 potatoes diced
2 celery stalks diced
1 large onion diced
3 bay leaves
all-purpose flour for dredging meat
salt and pepper


Method-
Preheat oven to 350˚F
Dredge shanks lightly with flour and fry in olive oil until browned on both sides, place in a roasting pan.
Saute all veggies in the same pan until slightly soft approx 8 minutes.
Add sauce and wine and cook an additional 5 minutes
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Pour veggies over veal shanks in roasting pan and add the bay leaves.
Cover and place in oven for approx. 1 hour.
Remove cover and roast for 25 minutes.
The osso buco should be fork tender with a thick sauce and tender veggies.

I made Roasted Brussel Spouts and Aborio Rice as sides. Perfect dinner!

For breakfast, I made Brown Sugar Apple and Cinnamon Chip Scones. Loved these!! I have been looking for Cinnamon Chips at every local store I go into. I can never find them. Until I checked Amazon. Yup. Found them!

I was going to make just Cinnamon Chip Scones but then I noticed the apples on the counter. What happened next resulted in the best scones I have ever made.

Brown Sugar Apple and Cinnamon Chip Scones

Ingredients-
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda, sieved
0.5 tsp salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 c diced apple
1c cinnamon chips (see note)
1 egg, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c buttermilk
raw sugar for dusting

Method-
Combine the flour, baking powder, and soda, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the cinnamon chips. Stir in diced apple. Combine the egg yolk, the vanilla, and the buttermilk; stir this into the dry ingredients until just combined. Turn the dough out onto a lightly flowered surface and knead for 6-10 turns. Divide the dough in half and pat each half into a 6-7 inch circle. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Brush each circle with lightly beaten egg white, dust it with sugar and transfer the wedges to an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-22 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack; after 5 minutes, cover loosely with a dish towel until completely cool.

Time For Breakfast - Cinnamon Scone Bread

This was as amazing as I hoped it would be. We love scones. Scone Bread was a must try recipe. It was a little work with the layering but damn it was so worth it. Looking forward to having this again tomorrow for breakfast! Click here for the recipe. It was not that hard to make, just a little more time consuming than regular scones.

Heart-Shaped Food

Happy Valentines Day! We started the day with Fresh Apple and Cinnamon Scones with Pecans. Here is the recipe to which I added 1/2 cup of chopped Pecans. And yes they are heart-shaped.

I love pizza on Sunday nights. Childhood memories and all that. I do need to work on my pizza dough heart shaping technique but the flavors were oh so good. For Chris I made onion and bacon. For myself, I had some roasted broccoli and some cooked broccoli rabe in the freezer. Both of these pizzas were delicious!

Chorizo Meatballs with Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

For Christmas I received Cooking Like A Master Chef by Graham Elliot. As I flipped through the book the first recipe that jumped out at me was Chorizo Meatballs. The recipe included a Spicy Tomato Sauce but I knew what sauce I wanted to use, Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter. 

 

I had some pasta that I had ordered from Borgatti's in the Bronx. Spaghetti alla Chitarra. It was the prefect pasta for the sauce and the meatballs.

I did make a couple of adjustments to the meatball recipe. The original recipe called for chives. I did not have any. It called for 2 Chorizo Sauasages. One was plenty. It called for 2 eggs. I went with one and the meatball mix was prefect to handle. The recipe also called for sumac and cayenne pepper. Didn't add it. And it called for lemon zest. Last year Chris got me another cookbook that called for lemon in their meatball recipe. I added it and we did not like it. So I left out the too.

My version of Chorizo Meatballs-

Ingredients-
3 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
 8 oz. ground pork shoulder
 8 oz. lean ground beef
1 Spanish chorizo sausages, casings removed, sausage meat minced
1 eggs
2 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/2 c.)
1/2 c. dried breadcrumbs
1/4 c. red wine
1 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt

Method-

In a large skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. When hot, saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent and softened. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In large bowl, mix pork, beef, sausage, egg, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, wine, parsley,  and a little salt. Add cooled onion and garlic. Using your hands, work mixture until ingredients are well mixed. 

Season with salt. Roll meat between your palms to make 20 small meatballs, about the size of walnuts.

In another large skillet, spread remaining oil (you only need a film of oil to coat the skillet) and heat. Brown meatballs on all sides and transfer to baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through.

And I made scones for breakfast today. I found this recipe on Local Kitchen Blog. These were delicious!

Ginger Orange Scones from Local Kitchen Blog-

Ingredients-

2 cups (9 oz) whole grain all-purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tbsp (4.5 oz) whole wheat pastry flour
2 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup turbinado sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
Zest from 2 medium oranges (about 2 tbsp)
6 oz (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, frozen for at least 30 minutes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
3/4  cup chilled  milk, plus extra for glazing

Method-

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (375 F convection).

In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; whisk for approximately 1 minute until well blended.  Transfer flour mixture to the bowl of a food processor.  Add butter cubes and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Mix orange zest and chopped ginger into flour mixture.

Gradually add the liquid, tossing with a fork until moist clumps form.  Stop adding liquid when it seems the dough will stay together; if the dough is too sticky, the scones will lose their shape upon cooking. If the dough seems crumbly and will not hold a shape, add more liquid 1 tbsp at a time.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Knead briefly to bind the dough; about 4 turns should be enough.  Cut the dough in half, and form each portion into a 1- to 2-inch thick round.  Cut the round into 8 triangular pieces with a sharp knife or pastry cutter. Transfer wedges to a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet, spacing approximately 2 inches apart. Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.

Using a pastry brush, glaze the tops of each wedge with the extra milk. Sprinkle a small amount of turbinado sugar on top for added crunch.

Bake for 10 minutes (8 minutes convection), then turn pans in oven 180 degrees.  Continue to bake for 10-15 minutes (7-12 minutes convection), until the tops of the scones are golden brown and they feel somewhat firm to the touch.

Transfer to wire racks to cool.  Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Chinese Barbecue Ribs

A busy, busy Sunday. Did a lot of cooking, sorry no sneak peaks for this upcoming week. Our day started with the most delicious Lemon and Blueberry Scones. Seriously these were amazing. The recipe was from Add A Pinch. I kept them in the oven a bit longer than the recipe said, my dough seemed a bit moist. The flavors were over the top. Nice start to the day.

Chris was busy today putting together our new grill. Yes, tomorrow the grill will officially be opened. Can't wait to try some recipes from my Pinterest board, The Grill Is Open.

 

Dinner. Well let's just say it received rave reviews. Chinese Barbecue Ribs. The recipe is from the Tasting Table. The meat fell off the bones. The sauce was literally finger licking good. Yes Julie, finger licking good.

Do you want to try the scone recipe? From Add A Pinch, Lemon and Blueberry Scones-

Ingredients-
 2 cups all-purpose flour½ cup sugar + more for topping
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) cold butter + more for topping
zest and juice of one lemon
¾ - 1 cup heavy cream
1 cup fresh blueberries, tossed in 1 tablespoon flour
Optional Glaze
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method-
Preheat oven to 400º F. Line a rimmed baking sheet pan with parchment paper or a nonstick baking sheet.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter to the bowl and cut into the flour with a pastry blender until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of a pea and the flour mixture resembles coarse meal. Add zest and juice of lemon. Stir in ¾ cup of heavy cream. Press dough together between the palms of your hands. If it doesn't just hold together, add more heavy cream until is just holds together. Add vanilla extract. Fold blueberries into the dough.
Pour dough onto a lightly floured counter top or a pastry board. Pat dough into a large round disc, about an inch thick. Cut dough into equal sized wedges and place onto prepared baking sheet pan.
Bake scones for 20-25 minutes or until they are just beginning to turn lightly brown. Remove from the oven and serve warm. You can also drizzle a warm glaze on top of the scones, if you'd like. Just whisk all of the glaze ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and then drizzle on top of each scone.


Yes, you want this Rib recipe. I made 1/2 the recipe. From the Tasting Table, Chinese Barbecue Ribs.

Ingredients-
8 cups chicken stock
¼ cup soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, peeled
One 6-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 4 pieces1 medium carrot, diced (about ½ cup)
1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2 stalks celery, diced (about ¾ cup)
2 racks baby back pork ribs, about 4 pounds total (racks cut in half if using a Dutch oven)

Glaze
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
¼ cup sliced scallions
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup hoisin sauce
1 cup dark corn syrup (I used Light Corn Syrup)
¼ cup ketchup
1½ teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
1½ teaspoons sambal oelek chile paste

Method-
Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large Dutch oven or roasting pan, combine the chicken stock, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, carrot, onion and celery and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and nestle the ribs in the braising liquid.

Cover the Dutch oven (or cover the roasting pan tightly with foil) and bake until the meaty part of the ribs are tender when pierced with a paring knife, about 90 minutes.

While the ribs cook, prepare the glaze: Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Add the soy sauce, hoisin, corn syrup, ketchup, five-spice powder and chile paste; increase the heat the high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the mixture has thickened slightly, about 20 to 25 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and reserve.

Line a baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on the baking sheet. Remove the ribs from the braising liquid and place them, meaty side up, on the rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°. Brush a thick coating of glaze on the top of the ribs. Bake for 45 minutes, brushing the ribs with additional glaze every 15 minutes. Transfer the ribs to a cutting board, let rest for 5 minutes, then cut into one- or two-rib portions and serve immediately.

 Meanwhile, a certain gray cat was being very fresh...

Beer Braised Beef Shanks and Creamy Black Pepper Polenta

Tonight we had what is our favorite Beef Shank recipe. Beer Braised Beef Shanks. The recipe was from La Cucina Italiana site. The meat melts in your mouth and the broth is so smooth. 

Ingredients -
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds onions, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 pounds meaty cross-cut beef shanks (about 4 osso buco)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 (14.9-ounce) cans dark beer such as Guinness
2 cups beef broth

Method -
In a 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven or wide heavy pot with lid, heat oil over medium-high heat; add onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and golden, about 8 minutes. Remove pot from heat.

In a large heavy skillet, melt 2 1/2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. In batches, brown shanks, 3 to 4 minutes per side, wiping pan and adding up to 1/2 tablespoon more butter, if necessary.

Transfer shanks to a cutting board. Cut meat off bones (reserve bones); cut meat into 1-inch pieces. Transfer meat and bones to pot with onions; stir in paprika and season generously with salt and pepper. Add beer and 1 cup broth; bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, adding remaining cup broth to pot as necessary to keep meat covered by at least 1 inch, until meat is very tender, about 2 hours.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer meat, bones and onions to a large bowl. Into a second large bowl, strain braising liquid through a fine-mesh sieve; put any remaining onions into bowl with meat. Remove marrow from bones and stir into meat mixture; discard bones. Adjust seasoning.

As a side dish we had Creamy Black Pepper Polenta. The recipe is from the Family Celebration with the Cake Boss.Yes it is our featured cookbook this week! This was the best polenta I have made.

Creamy Black Pepper Polenta
Ingredients -
2 cups milk, or more as needed
2 cups of chicken stock, or more as needed
3 tsp kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 cup instant polenta
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Method -
Fill a medium saucepan with milk, 2 cups chicken stock or water, the kosher salt, and the bay leaf; bring to a boil. Add the cornmeal in a very thin stream, whisking constantly and vigorously, so that no clumps form. Simmer until the polenta is thickened (it should still be slightly runny; add more chicken stock, milk or water as needed to adjust the consistency) about 3 to 4 minutes. Turn down the heat to very low and stir in the butter and black pepper. Remove the bay leaf. Serve immediately.

For breakfast, I made Orange Ginger Glazed Scones. I found a recipe for Glazed Lemon Ginger Sconed on the Food and Wine site. But I wanted Orange scones so I made some changes. I used Orange and Lemon zest and switched the Heavy Cream for plain Greek yogurt.

Ingredients -
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
3 tablespoons cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Method -
Preheat the oven to 375° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk the flour with the granulated sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, orange zest  and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the cream and 2 tablespoons of the orange juice; fold in the candied ginger.

On a lightly floured work surface, gently knead the dough just until it comes together. Pat into a 9-inch round, a scant 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into 8 wedges and arrange them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake the scones for 20 to 25 minutes, until slightly firm and lightly browned on the bottom, pale on top. Let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

In a medium bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the remaining 3 tablespoons of orange juice until the glaze is smooth (you may need to add more juice). Drizzle the orange glaze over the scones and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Meatball Pizza

Can't say much about this... it's not nice to talk with my mouth full. What I can say is the pizza was delicious. I had the meatballs in the freezer and the pizza dough recipe came from the book My Bread by Jim Lahey. There was only one little piece left.

Earlier today I tried a new scone recipe from Cooking Light. Pistachio Cranberry Scones.

Ingredients -
9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup fat-free buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped pistachios, toasted
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Method -
Preheat oven to 400°.

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Cover and chill flour mixture 10 minutes.

Combine buttermilk and next 4 ingredients (through egg), stirring with a whisk until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until dough is moist.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut dough into 12 wedges (do not separate the wedges). Brush egg white over dough; sprinkle evenly with turbinado sugar. Bake at 400° for 13 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan; cool 2 minutes on wire racks. Serve warm or at room temperature.

And only 191 calories.

Fried Chick Peas and Chorizo and Spaghetti Frittatta

Mark Bittman rules. His recipes are such fun to prepare. Just a few ingredients and the results are so flavorful. Fried Chick Peas and Chorizo was great. Simple to make. We loved it.

I had some leftovers from the Pasta with Peppers and Sand. Not wanting to see them go to waste I made a Frittatta. The pasta, 4 eggs, a little milk and a handful of Parmesan cheese. Not bad.

For breakfast I made some Irish Soda Scones from Joy of Baking. I added golden raisin because it seemed like a Soda Bread should have them.