Cooking Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Author K. Williams

Make a Meal with Culinary K

August 7, 2017 By Captain Maiel

The end of summer is fast approaching, but there is still plenty of time to enjoy the foods and times of the season. You might be barbecued out by now, with all the holidays and summer get-togethers, but many of you will have topped out on brats, dogs, burgers and maybe sausages, rather than some other great barbecue fair. Let me put together a list of recipes for a great end of summer bash. Add your own favorites, such as corn bread and fresh vegetables to round it out.

Main course:

Pulled Pork by Culinary K

with

Macaroni Picnic Salad, Simple Potato Salad, and Coleslaw

Finish your meal with a nice sweet Riesling and some pie…

Ina Garten’s Perfect Pie Crust

Fill this perfect crust with apples or another fruit you love. (Look inside the recipe to get some tips on pie fillings.)

Enjoy your wonderful summer meal!

Ina Garten’s Perfect Pie Crust

November 14, 2016 By Captain Maiel

Two apple pies are under my belt for the season (many more for the year). I’ve tried store bought crusts and several homemade recipes to find a great crust. Nothing has ever turned out as flaky and tasty as the one I found via Ina Garten on the Cooking Channel site. Even Sadie Sue Shagbottom, who stole about a quarter of the last pie, approves. She never! NEVER! Steals food. Ever. So that must have been some serious temptation.

You can use this pie crust for any type of pie you want to make, whether it’s fruit, nut, pudding or savory quiches. It adapts well to any of them. It’s also fool proof if you follow the steps, which are straight forward and easy. Each batch will yield two crusts (one covered/lattice fruit pie, or two topless pies). Check out the pies I’ve made in recent months. The First two were created with store shells, and the last three with Ina’s recipe:

1. Chevre Leek Tart

2. Mince Meat Pie

3. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

4. Apple Pie before baking.

5. Apple Pie

Get Ina’s Pie Crust Recipe.

Don’t waste time questioning my recommendation, or insisting that you have the best pie crust because grandma passed yours down to you, and it’s what you’re used to. You can always modify any recipe. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? You find out it is Grandma’s recipe! Pie crust is simple, and there’s not too much room for fooling around. This recipe is basic and that’s exactly how pie crust should be.

In the past, my crusts had a leathery feel to them–probably too much shortening and too much handling. You should always handle the crust as little as possible. Use a hand pastry blender or, if you’re lucky enough to have one, the Kitchen Aid Mixer hook. Don’t process it our hand kneed it for long. You want it to be blended but not until it’s like leather. Ina recommends keeping your water, butter and shortening ice cold. Some prep time is necessary to do this. put the shortening in the freezer while you wash the apples and gather the rest of the ingredients and tools. Put several cubes of ice in the cup of water you’ll draw your water from. Use frozen butter, chopped up. Put it back into the freezer while you sift the flour and other ingredients together (don’t forget to hold back that percentage of flour she says, you need it for rolling). The shortening should be nice and cold at this point. Mix the butter and shortening with the blender (hand or Kitchen Aid). And, make sure you roll it into a ball and put it in the fridge as she says. It’s very necessary.

At that point, you can start peeling and coring your fruit, or prepping the heart of the pie (chocolate pudding, banana creme, coconut, leeks and goat cheese). Preheat the oven when you’re ready to roll out your dough.

For the fruit of an apple pie:

I recommend Honey Crisp apples with a couple macs (about 4 large and 2 small). Mix with a tablespoon of cinnamon, a pinch of cloves, a slice of lemon squeezed over the apples, 2 tablespoons of vanilla. Cut four pats of butter and set aside. Mix the apples with the spices, lemon and vanilla. Carefully arrange in the bottom pie shell so they all fit. DO NOT just throw it in. This creates trapped air, and makes the roof of the pie lofty with no reinforcement. It will be very hard to cut, and break up all over making a mess of each slice.

Once done, put the 4 pats of butter around the pie. Cover with the top shell, pinching the edges together to seal it. Cut vents in the top or fork poke holes into it. If you have extra crust left from cutting down the top or bottom crust, you can hand design some leaves or apples to decorate the top. If you’re not good at designing freehand, pick up cookie cutters to do it for you on the cheap at any department store.

Baking your apple pie:

Set the oven for 425° when you preheat. Bake at that temperature for 15 minutes with the edges of the crust covered. The silicone pie edge protector from King Arthur is great for this! Turn the oven down to 350° and continue baking for 45 minutes. This is very important for making a crispy, finished crust, as well as cooking those firm Honey Crisp slices.

What kind of pies do you like? Let me know in the comments below.

Have fun baking this fall!

Turkey Cutlets with Mushrooms

July 11, 2016 By Captain Maiel

Wow! When I tried this, it was totally off the cuff and I had no plan in mind outside of I had turkey cutlets thawed and mushrooms needing to be eaten. Some of the best recipes are things we throw together. As I was literally grabbing ingredients, my mind churned on ideas. The easiest part was the sides: chicken based couscous (boxed item), steamed broccoli and garlic knots. BJs Wholesale Club sell a lovely bag of pre-made garlic knots so you don’t have to fuss with them on a busy night. They’re not too greasy either. I adore them, despite how many calories each is (over 100).

After a hard day, this very quick meal comes off better than gourmet. That can go a long way to re-energizing you for a nice evening.Who doesn’t need a reward like that?

Here’s how to make this delicious recipe…

What you will need:

2 – turkey breast cutlets, mayonnaise, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper, 2 – white button mushrooms, vegetable oil, cooking sherry, soy sauce, 9 x 9 glass baking dish, sides to compliment main dish.

If your sides will take longer than the turkey to cook, start them first, and then prepare the ingredients above.
Rinse the turkey cutlets and set aside on paper towels to dry.
Ligthly oil a glass 9×9 baking pan.
Place cutlets in pan, flat.
Sprinkle with garlic powder (as much as you like).
Spread about 1 teaspoon of mayonniase per each cutlet.
Slice mushrooms and spread over the cutlets. Spread a pinch of parsley over everything.
Add 1/4 cup cooking sherry and 1 TBSP soy sauce.
Salt and pepper meat to taste.
Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy! I know I sure did. The meal too about 25 minutes to prepare and about 5 to inhale.

Ham and Cabbage, An Easy Feast

March 11, 2016 By Captain Maiel

Ham and Cabbage is one of the easiest meals you can prepare and serve with pride. I thought it would be timely to talk about this dish, considering the holiday coming up. (Did you know that they don’t eat Corned Beef in Ireland? Beef is traditionally too expensive. So ass in a can was on the menu instead.)

The best thing you can do to up your game on this recipe is choose yellow potatoes over any other kind. They retain their texture and the texture is nice and smooth—no grit! If you’re going to freeze this dish, use small, whole potatoes and leave their skins on. All potatoes freeze terrible. If you leave their skin on, once heated back up, they cease to be mush and fill out again. Anyway, yellow potatoes really make the meal. I’d only make enough of this to fill out a couple meals.

What you will need: 1 large stock pot, 1 pack vegetable stock, 1/2 onion, 1 honey ham (sliced or not, bone or not–weight according ot servings needed), carrots, yellow potatoes (number of potatoes and carrots depends on the number of people being fed–figure 1 potato and 2 carrots per person), 1 cabbage (large or small depending on your guests), salt and pepper, and butter.

This will be easy, and not a lot of measuring.

Instructions:

Wash your vegetables and rinse the ham.
Peel the potatoes and cut them in quarters if they are large, in half if they are small.
Peel the carrots and cut them as you prefer to eat them. I slice them at a slight angle, about a quarter inch wide.
Chop 1/2 of a small onion. cook in the large stock pot until tender.
Add the vegetable stock, carrots and potatoes. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer.
Quarter the cabbage and place them on top of the vegetables.
Set the ham on top of the cabbage.
Place a lid on the pot, and let simmer until the vegetables are all tender.
When ready, serve in a bowl if you like the juice, or drain and plate if you do not. (If you’ll be storing some, save the juice to put in the container with the left overs. It adds a lot of flavor and makes the left overs even tastier than the first batch.)
Salt, pepper and some butter to taste.

Enjoy!

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A Day In The Life…

December 21, 2015 By Captain Maiel

Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of your favorite author is like? I know I have, from the perspective of wondering if I am at all doing this thing right. The question about my process has come up a time or two, but this is the first time anyone has wondered what goes into the making of one of days. I’m both afraid and intrigued to explore the topic. What if I am boring? What if the check list of things doesn’t add up to an author?

I’ve thought about my daily routine when lamenting my life in the past, remarking on how clockwork it all is. My personality (INFJ-Gemini) struggles with rigid schedules and although I don’t literally try to schedule my life, it ends up that way. Much like everyone else, my alarm goes off in the AM, the ringtone set to Tantrum by Luminox (it was Jarvis just about week or two ago). I need something that gets me up and I want to boogie to. Seriously. Getting up in the morning is hard! My favorite thing is bedtime and snuggling so having to part with my blankets once they have accepted me as one of their own is cruel to both them and me.

From there, I do the usual bathroom things. I MUST brush my teeth before I set foot out the door. I don’t care what else I look like so much, but my breath will not be killing anyone I walk into while getting Miss Sadie Sue Shagbottom out for her first constitutional of the day (even if it is only to the patch of grass in the lot behind the house).

Once Miss Sue is fed and watered, I go get ready for work. Just before I leave for the day, I walk my girl for a few minutes to make sure she’s all set for the day while I am gone, and give her some cookies to hold her over until I get back. Then, I skooch off to work for eight hours.

Work is boring. It’s just a lot of paper pushing and phone answering. Sometimes I have to play hostess, but mostly it’s just desk work–nice and simple the way I like it. Why is that? Because I want to preserve my brain for writing and research. Work is actually my downtown, if that makes sense. Having clocked my hours, I skooch back home to my darling Sadie.

Sadie, being a golden retriever, is quite happy to see me and we go through our door greeting ritual. Most of the time I escape a bloody nose form her overzealous affection and we go tumbling down the stairs to unleash the hounds. Ahhh…sweet relief. During the warm weather and long days, we do a nice walk around the neighborhood. My pup is never happier than when she gets to have regular walks. Unfortunately, sometimes the weather keeps us in (if it’s too hot, I won’t walk her and risk her paws getting burned, so we stick close to the house, likewise with pouring rain and the cold dark winter). I don’t live in the best of neighborhoods, so walking after sundown is risky, even with my dog at my side. Risking either of isn’t worth the time, so we just play indoors.

With Sadie all set, I break out the pans and start dinner. We’ll watch Netflix or a DVD once we’ve eaten, as I peruse Social Media, write blog posts, design art/media for my books or read research materials for my next work. Right now, I’m working on a lot of designs and concept art for Trailokya. Most of the writing I do happens here on the blog since it’s advent (interrupted at 8PM for a dog break). That all takes up the majority of the evening and by 11, I get around to doing my German Lesson (if I couldn’t sneak it in while cooking or eating).

Just before bed I get ready for the next day, making the lunch and picking my outfit. I take Sadie out to the bathroom and then get settled myself and off to sleep I go (with one last Social Media check).

My weekends are about the same, with errands and chores taking the place of my work day.

I was right…this does scare me into thinking I’m too normal!