Chicken Kiev - Delicious fellow Comrades!

Did you know that Chicken Kiev wasn't really invented in Russia?  Nope, it's a classic American dish that evolved back in the 50's and 60's.  Sadly, it's found mainly today on the menus of hotels during conferences or heaven forbid, weddings!  The dish has a buttery richness and a flavor of herbs that is so satisfying and good.  The outside is crunchy and it makes a delicious family meal.

I should summarize by saying, "I am not a fan of chicken."  My family, however, is.  They love it in every form, preparation method and dish.  I will say one thing, when I lived in Australia, I learned to appreciate - no, LOVE - chicken.  In Australia, they don't grow their foul or meats with growth hormones and anything else funky.  The population isn't in the gazillions so big factory farms take better care of their products before it goes to market.  I think that chickens take longer to mature and develop and actually tastes like chicken should.  Flavorful and delicious.. not like it has flown off a conveyor belt and blown into a piece of plastic and sent to the supermarket with a label "ALL NATURAL".  Please.. today's chicken is as all natural as Joan Rivers' face!

This Kiev is baked, not fried!

So, let's do some Kiev.  I've been frustrated in the past with Kiev.  I've tried and tried to make mine so that the seal does not lose its butter.  To no avail.. no matter what I do, how hard I try or how clever I think I am.. that damned butter won't stay inside.  Rather it leaks out and leads to disappointment.. I think it's awesome to cut into a Kiev slowly and have the butter and herbs drizzle out.. yummo.  But I could never figure out how to keep the butter in without a bale of twine wrapping up the chicken or a forest of toothpicks holding it together - neither of which is too appetizing.

The secret is how you pound it out.  Pounding the edges of the chicken much thinner than the main section of meat.. and sealing the chicken is key.  Letting it sit uncovered in the refrigerator for an hour helps to dry out the meat so that the seal stays even tighter!

Another frustration is pounding out the chicken evenly.  If you have a round shaped meat pounder, great!  If you have a square one like me.. you need to be cautious and use a bit more gentle finesse.  You can easily rip and tear your chicken if you get too heavy handed.  The result is uneven thickness which makes rolling up the butter a disaster.   

This option is baked, not fried and the chicken is uniform thickness thanks to butterflying the breasts... and best of all, the butter leaks out on your plate, not in your baking dish!  But, if the butter does leak out while they are baking, so what?  Just drizzle it over your chickens after you plate them.

CHICKEN KIEV
Makes 4 (May be frozen or allowed to sit overnight in refrigerator after assembly)

Herb Butter
1 stick of butter softened.  (if you use salted, you can omit the salt below)
1 TBS minced parsley leaves, fresh or dried
1 large garlic clove, minced fine
1/2 tsp Tarragon leaves, dried
1 TBS lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Chicken
4-5 slices plain, white sandwich bread, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 TBS olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - about 7-8 ounces each with tenderloins removed
1 cup all purpose flour
3 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp Dijon mustard

DIRECTIONS

For the butter: 
Mix butter, garlic, herbs, lemon juice salt and pepper in a small bowl with a spatula until well combined.  Form butter into a 3 inch square on plastic wrap.  Wrap tightly and refrigerate for one hour.

For the Chicken:
1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees and adjust the rack to the lower/middle position.  Using your food processor, add half the bread cubes and pulse until coarsely ground - about 15 1 second pulses.  Transfer the crumbs to a medium bowl and repeat with remaining cubes.  Note, bread doesn't have to be day old.. the freshest of sandwich white bread makes great spur of the moment crumbs.  In the bowl, drizzle olive oil onto crumbs and mix briskly and lightly until all crumbs are fairly coated with olive oil.  Next, spread all crumbs out on a cookie sheet evenly.  Salt & pepper to taste if desired.  Bake in oven until dry and golden brown, about 25-30 mins.  Stirring once or twice during baking time.

2.  Prepare cutlets.   Starting on the thinnest side of the chicken piece, slice lengthwise ALMOST in half, but not quite.  Open the breast up to create a single, flat cutlet.  The shape should resemble a heart.  See above image.

3.  Using two pieces of cling wrap, place cutlet in between plastic.  Pound out the chicken, beginning at the center and working your way out.  Make the chicken no less than 1/4 inch thick and make sure the edges of the chicken are much thinner than the middle, about 1/8 inch thin.

4.  Remove butter from refrigerator and cut into 4 rectangular pieces.  Working with one piece of chicken at a time, place chicken cutlet in front of you.  The shape should resemble a heart.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Place a piece of butter at the center of bottom half of the breast.  Roll the bottom edge over the butter, folding in the sides and continue rolling so that the butter is fully enclosed and it is nestled into a nice, tight package.  Press on the chicken edges to seal the seam.  Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.  Refrigerate chicken for one hour, uncovered with seals up to allow edges to seal. 

5.  Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in center.  Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with Pam. Using three different shallow bowls or pie plates, beat eggs together with Dijon mustard combined in one shallow bowl.  Set aside.  Measure out the flour in another shallow pan and also place bread crumbs in a seperate shallow dish. 

6.  Beginning with the flour, carefully dredge the first piece of chicken in flour, shaking off the excess gently.  Next, dredge the chicken in the egg/mustard mix making sure all sides of the chicken are wet with the egg.  Finally, roll the chicken in the bread crumbs and make sure plenty of crumbs are pressed into the chicken so that they adhere on the surface and the crannies of the chicken.  Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken.  (NOTE:  Chicken can be refrigerated or frozen at this stage)  Allow an extra 10 minutes of baking time if baking cold chicken.  Frozen Kievs should be thoroughly defrosted before baking.

7.  Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until an instant read thermometer, pushed in from the top of the chicken reads 160 degrees.  Let rest for 5 minutes on a wire rack before serving.

OPTIONS:  We love our Kiev served with Jasmine Rice, but try buttered egg noodles or even roasted potatoes should you wish!  Enjoy!

The MOST Amazing Ciabatta's Ever!

Crisp crust, full of milky large holes... so good!

I stumbled on this recipe last year at one of my favorite baking websites, The Fresh Loaf.  This incredible Ciabatta recipe is the most unique bread method I've ever seen.

Indeed, a no-knead bread, and in fact, you never really touch it with your hands.  I've heard some call it "glop" and I would have to agree.  There are a couple of secrets to this bread:

1.  Beat the living daylights out of it until the dough literally climbs up your paddle attachment.  When it starts to climb, switch to the dough hook and keep going.  You will see the gluten transform right before your eyes.  The entire process takes about 20-30 minutes on high speed in your KitchenAid Mixer... or 2 full cycles on high on your Magic Mill DLX.

2.  You must let this TRIPLE on the first rise.  This can take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours, depending on the strength of your yeast.
3.  Use two dough scrapers to handle the dough.  Getting them wet helps alot.  Use the scrapers to seperate the dough into loaves, give them a rough shape and finally, to flip them over onto your parchment.

4.  A super hot oven of 500 degrees is needed.  If you don't have an oven stone, you will have to use a cookie sheet.  You will still get a good bread, but not as crispy as cooked on a stone.

I usually make three medium loaves, or two larger ones.. the crust is crisp and crackly, the holes are magnificent and large.. the crumb is buttery with a delicate chew.  My family goes crazy for this bread and it's so easy, I can bake it often.  Try it for pizza.. it's so, so good!  You really do need a scale for this - if you have one, set it to grams and have a good time baking this bread!

Cocodrillo Ciabatta Bread
Recipe Author:  Jason Molina @ The Fresh Loaf

500 grams bread flour
475-495 grams lukewarm water
2 tsp instant yeast
15 grams salt

Attach the paddle attachment of your Kitchen Aid or the Roller if you have the Magic Mill.  In your mixer mix flour, water and yeast together for about 1-2 minutes until combined.  Switch off your mixer and let rest for about 10 minutes.

Turn your Mixer speed to high and slowly add the salt.  Beat the dough for as long as you can.  If using a KA, you'll eventually see the dough climbing your paddle.  Switch over to the dough hook and keep mixing.  The dough should lift off the bottom of the bowl, which tells you it's been mixed enough.  Keep a close eye on your mixer and at the final stages, it will bounce around quite a bit.  Hang onto it! 

Generously grease your raising bowl (I use a dough doubler from King Arthur Flour).  Pour your dough in the bowl and scrape out the rest.  The dough will be a massive, wet glop!  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to TRIPLE.  This is important, IT MUST TRIPLE!  This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours. 

Once your dough has tripled, flour a large spot on your counter generously.  Using two dough scrapers, seperate your dough glop into three sections.  Keep your dough scrapers wet with water to prevent the dough from sticking to them.  If it does, just scrape it off and wet down the scraper again and again.  Form each section into a rough loaf.  It will appear flat and that's normal.

Flour the top of the loaves once they are shaped, cover with a large piece of plastic (I use a garbage bag that is unused of course!) and let it rest for 45 minutes.  While your dough is rising a second time, prepare your oven.

Place an old pan on the bottom shelf of your oven.. even the oven floor is fine.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and let it get nice and hot - at least 30 minutes before you plan to bake.  If you have a baking stone, use parchment paper and flip a large cookie sheet upside down and cover it with the paper. 

When the dough has rested 45 minutes, take your two dough scrapers and get them nice and wet.  Using them as scrapers, grab your dough together, one loaf at a time, pinching it together and flip it upside down onto the parchment paper.  Reshape your loaf as you need.  Your dough will still look flat - no worries.  Try to fit two loaves on one sheet.  You'll have to get a second pan ready for the last loaf.  Don't bake two sheets together.. just one cookie sheet of bread at a time.

Flour the tops of your bread that has been flipped over.  Slide the dough on the parchment paper right onto your stone in the oven.  If you don't have a stone, just put the entire cookie sheet in the oven.  Bake for 10 minutes at 500 degrees, then open the oven, turn the loaves around for even browning and give them an additional 7-8 minutes.  Remove them from the oven and immediately place on a wire rack to cool.

Slice on the bias for big slices and enjoy!  Cut in half and make great Italian Sandwiches or use your Panini press for gorgeous panini sandwiches.  You can also form this dough on parchment into rounds or rectangles to make pizza's.  Pre-bake your pizza dough for about 6 minutes until set slightly.  Remove from the oven and add sauce and toppings, return to oven and bake for another 10 minutes at 500 degrees.  Enjoy!

Light as a Cloud Aussie Sponge Cake - Happy Waitangi Day... kind of!

My husband said to me the other day, "Waitangi Day" is coming soon!  Here I was, in eager anticipation of the Groundhog at Gobbler's Knob - something my hubby can only scratch his head  and wonder about.  For me, celebrating Waitangi Day seems a bit odd - not just because I'm not a Kiwi by birth, but because I feel kind of bad for the Maori people of New Zealand.  Here the Brits promised them land and citizenship (and all the rights that come with it - in exchange for letting a bunch of Pommies invade their island.  Of course, they had to swear allegiance to the Queen/King or whatever Royal there was at the time. You can already guess the ending of the story.. the Maori got the short end of the stick.  It's a bit dreary if you ask me.

However, in keeping with all things fun, I decided to make some fun "down under" treats today to keep hubby from yammering on about how dumb the Groundhog is and how fabulous Waitangi Day can be.. even though he was not able to fully explain how it's celebrated! 

So on the menu today was two Aussie favorites - Sausage Rolls and  a beautiful sponge cake Aussie Feather Light Sponge Cake with Jam & Cream.  I know, I know.. it's a Kiwi holiday not an Aussie one, but close enough.  Besides, they eat sausage rolls in New Zealand too!

Aussie Sausage Rolls - Even the Kiwi's eat them!

Ethereal, light and extraordinarily delicious!

Wonder Bread - Japanese Style!

Someone pinch me...



The perfect children.. grrr

 When I was little, we took our trusty sandwiches to school each day.  The only day we had "Hot Lunch" was when there were hot rolls or pizza.  My Mother always thought that a peanut butter sandwich (my favorite, btw!) and an apple was the perfect meal for lunch - both items were affordable.  Well, I really was never a fan of apples and I was always crushed when opening my scrawny little sack, I'd find that the apple smashed a massive circle shape into my sandwich!  Curses! 

Back in the early 60's, Wonder Bread was probably the fanciest store bought bread you could find, and kids LOVED it!  Problem was that it was more expensive than other brands and needless to say, we rarely had it in our lunch sacks.  Much of the time, Mom made our sandwiches on homemade bread or some other brand at the store that was quite dry and disappointing.

I've had this secret quest to find homemade bread that could be a suitable clone for Wonder Bread.  Now, mind you, my Grandma Anderson's Ranch Hand bread comes super close, but this bread is nearly identical in texture - and oh, so much better in taste! 

In Japan and other parts of Asia, bread is not a staple, but somehow these clever people have managed to create a white bread loaf that is slightly sweet, with a gorgeous, moist crumb.  It is, by far.. the closest thing to Wonder Bread I have ever found. 

Soft Asian bread.. it's as good as it looks!

It's actually very easy to make.  This recipe makes one loaf and I follow the traditional method of making a roux ahead of time to add to the dough.  I am guessing it is the reason for it's beautiful crumb.  Don't worry - it's super easy.  The original recipe calls for it to be mixed and kneaded by hand and if you choose to do it that way, great.  The instructions below are for hand kneading, but it works just as well in a stand mixer.  The hand kneaded recipe calls for slapping the dough on the counter after every 3rd or 4th turn.  It really works well in this dough.. and helps to pull the gluten together.  Certainly, get out your KitchenAid if you want to shortcut the process.

And here I go again, harping on the kitchen scale thing... This recipe requires a scale that has a Tare/Zero function and can measure Grams.  You don't want to try and measure this bread by measuring cups.. 99 out of 100 times, you'll end up with bread far too dry and dense.

JAPANESE WHITE BREAD

The Roux:
100 ml water
20 grams bread flour

The Dough:
350 grams bread flour
1 TBS milk powder (I use King Arthur Flour Bakers Milk powder)
30 grams sugar
5 grams salt
2 tsp instant dry yeast
150 ml lukewarm water (may need more depending on dryness of flour)
30 grams chilled butter, cubed

NOTE:  This bread doubles well, however, only use 3 tsp of yeast instead of doubling the yeast amount. 



About 30 minutes before making the dough, measure water and flour into a small saucepan.  Over medium/low heat, stir with a whisk until well blended.  Switch to a spatula and continue stirring from the bottom of the pan.  Mixture will begin to thicken like a very thick glue.  Continue to cook for an additional minute.  Set pan aside and allow it to cool to lukewarm - cover with plastic wrap when your pan is cool enough.  You can refrigerate the roux up to 24 hours in your refrigerator.  Just remove an hour before mixing your bread together to allow it to come to room temperature.

Measure all your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Using your spatula, add roux.  Slowly add your water, reserving the last few teaspoons.  Mix until the dough is entirely incorporated into a rough ball.  Add remaining water or even a teaspoon or two more if needed.  Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and begin kneading.  Your dough should be quite sticky.  Don't worry if a bit sticks to your counter - don't add more flour - you won't need it when you're done kneading and slapping.  The more you knead, the more your dough will come together.  It will still be tacky, but not as sticky at the end.  After every 3 or 4 kneads/folds/turns raise the entire dough ball over your head and slap it down on the counter.  Continue to do this throughout the kneading process.  Knead until the dough is silky smooth, about 10 minutes. 

Finally, knead in butter, a cube at a time, incorporating it fully into the bread before adding the rest.  Form dough into a tight ball and let rise in a well oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap for about 45 minutes to one hour. 

Shaping the dough is what gives this bread an authentic Japanese style.  It also makes for an interesting pull apart loaf at dinner and is a real treat to serve along with soup or stew. 

Prepare a standard bread loaf pan by greasing it generously.  Set aside.  Divide the dough into three or four even pieces.  Use a scale to make each ball equal or close to equal in weight.  Form each piece into a ball and cover lightly with plastic wrap.  Let your dough relax for about 10 minutes.

Roll out each piece slightly wider than your pan.  Tuck in the ends
and place in pan.

When dough has relaxed, use a rolling pin and roll out each piece one at a time.  The dough should be slightly wider than your bread pan so you have plenty of ends to pinch and tuck under as you place the dough in your breadpan.  Roll each piece about 7-8" long and then roll up, jelly roll style.  Roll up each piece tightly, pinch the ends together and tuck them in as you place into the bread pan.  Dough should be barely touching.  Cover pan lightly with plastic wrap and set aside to rise in a draft free spot.  If making a single recipe, this dough rises fast.  In about 45 minutes you should be ready.  If you are doubling the recipe, use only 3 tsp of yeast.  Rising times may take slightly longer.

When the dough reaches the top of the pan, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Carefully remove the plastic and brush the dough with a beaten egg if you wish.  You can also skip this step and just brush with softened or melted butter after it comes out of the oven. 

Ready for the oven.  Don't let this bread rise too high.  Just to the top of your pan.

Bake your bread for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.  Remove to a wire rack immediately after baking.  Let bread cool for about 30 minutes if you can stand waiting that long.  Slice just as you would any loaf of bread or tear apart for giant dinner rolls!

Looky at how soft and squishy this bread is... I've found Wonder Bread Nirvana!




Yes, it's THAT good!  Take that you perfect Wonder kids!

 

Fresh Pasta with Lemon Zest

Fresh Egg Noodle Basic Pasta - What a difference fresh makes!

I've been on a weird kick lately... looking for ways to better utilize my Kitchen Aid attachments.  This wasn't my idea, I was guilted into it.  My husband as drying a cutting board and as he put it away, he spied my attachments and said, "When are you going to make pasta again?"  I said, "That's not where the cutting board goes!"  But, point taken and I decided I'd make some pasta dishes this weekend.

Over the holidays a good friend of ours gave us her Mother's Marinara recipe - from a Boston Italian family, I figured it was pretty good stuff and so I made a big pot.. freezing several small bags of the stuff for another day.  That's when the light went on for Ravioli.

I whipped out the pasta machine and made a batch of pasta.  Using pasta sheets, I went about making the ravioli.  It turned out fantastic, but I didn't get any pictures.. but trust me on this one.  It was good.  I had some ground beef to use and I followed Alton Brown's meatloaf recipe and his unique twists on using the meat for Ravioli.  They were GOOD!  The marinara sauce was the capper.. Wonderful!  I boiled the ravioli for about 10 minutes.. the meat was cooked perfectly in the center!  HINT:  Use a small biscuit cutter to cut out the pasta.. so easy!

But, that didn't satiate my need to make more pasta.  Lately, I've been craving this great dish that I've made several times in the past.  It screams for a good pasta - so I planned on some Lemon Chicken Piccata this weekend.  I decided to do a Linguine Pasta, but this time, I went for a bit more flavor and zested two whole lemons into my flour before adding the eggs.  The addition was faint, but definitely delightful. 

So, without further ado, adieu or adew.. here's the basic pasta recipe.  I still have no clue what he did with my cutting board!

BASIC PASTA

3 cups all purpose flour
4 large, whole eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp salt
1 TBS olive oil
Zest of two lemons, finely grated
(I had to add a couple TBS of water to mine.. living in Arizona comes with a price - DRY FLOUR!)

Add flour and sale to your KA Mixer.  Zest in the rind of two lemons.  Using a paddle attachment, mix for about 30 seconds, then begin adding eggs, working each one in before adding another.  Add the olive oil and let the mixture come together in a dough ball.  If needed add some water, a TBS at a time just until the dough comes together nicely.  Dough should not be wet, but barely come together in one, cohesive mass.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and lightly flour your counter top.  Knead for 10 minutes by hand.  Don't use your KA.. the dough is too tough on your machine.  Wrap the kneaded dough in plastic and let it rest on your counter top for 30 minutes.

Dough should be silky and not sticky

Divide the dough into 4 quadrants and using your pasta roller attachment on your Kitchen Aid (I am guessing a hand crank pasta roller is the same thing!), set it for the widest setting.  Flour one piece of dough and re-wrap the others. Flour your dough on both sides very well and run it through the widest setting about 3 or 4 times. After each roll, I fold my dough into thirds - achieving a rough square shape. 

Now, run your dough through the next narrowest setting and keep going until you have achieved a paper-thin dough at the narrowest setting. 

Attach the linguine cutter and cut your long piece of dough into 2 or 3 pieces.  Run each through the linguine cutter and using a dowel or a rack, allow your dough to dry about 10 minutes before cooking.  You can also loosely bundle your dough after it has dried and freeze it. 

Boil your water to a full roll, then drop your pasta in the water.  Boil it for about 90 seconds, then quickly remove to a drainer.  Serve immediately. 

One recipe makes enough pasta to feed 6.  Delish!

Butter - Who needs a churn?

When I was a young girl, the neighbor in the next county over (she actually lived across the road.. since our road WAS the county line) used to bring us massive-sized jars of her fresh milk.  My Mother never had the heart to tell her we didn't need anymore milk.. we had a hard time drinking what she gave us as her Guernsey cows were great producers of ultra rich milk.  So, when she came knocking with one more jar, Mom would graciously thank her and would rifle around in her fridge to make room for one more jar.

My Grandmother was over one day and she saw all the jars of milk with thick cream floating at the top and said, "You should make some butter with all that cream.  That's too good to throw out!"  So.. Mom whipped out her Kitchen Aid mixer and began the process of butter making.  Her best butter was made several times a week and it was absolutely delicious on homemade rolls or her best dinner rolls.  My favorite was her Challah bread French Toast on a Sunday morning! 

This butter recipe gives two gifts - first you get fresh, creamery butter and second, you get about a cup and a half or more of fresh buttermilk.  Excellent in any recipe that calls for it.  Many butter recipes use only heavy cream, but for me.. the addition of sour cream creates a beautiful butter with a mellow and rich flavor that is hard to beat. 

So.. if you have a Kitchen Aid or other stand mixer with a wire whip... dust it off and give it a try.  You'll love the results.  All organic, completely fresh and perfectly seasoned in any way you like.  Buy organic heavy cream and sour cream.  Don't buy sour cream with added thickeners, make sure it's all natural.  The best place to find it is in a Natural Food store or in the organic section of a large grocery store.  I never have a problem finding organic cream or sour cream in my local store.

NOTE:  If you're lucky enough to get cream straight from the dairy, you can eliminate the sour cream.  The addition of sour cream is not really needed when you're starting out with thick, fresh cream.. it is used to enhance processed cream - even though it's totally organic.  It is used to improve the flavor from an otherwise flavorless base.  Just make sure you add more cream to make up for that cup of sour cream you don't have to use.

This recipe uses sea salt as the only flavor addition.  Try it with a touch of honey and cinnamon, or for a savory treat - fresh ground black pepper and your favorite herb combination. 

The Ingredients:  Natural Cream, Organic Sour Cream and a teaspoon of sea salt

This recipe makes approximately 1.5 cups of butter and takes about 15-20 minutes from start to finish.  This butter is not recommended for baking or cooking as it still has alot of water left in it which can throw off a baked recipe.  This butter is purely for your indulgence.  Smear it on a hot dinner roll or over your pancakes or French Toast in the morning.  Mmmmmm......

Kitchen Aid Fresh Butter

2.5 cups of heavy cream (organic)
1 cup of organic sour cream (make sure it doesn't have a thickener added to it.)
1 tsp of sea salt or kosher flake salt
1 medium sized bowl of ice cubes and water on standby

In your mixer, attach the whip.  Add cream and sour cream and on slow speed, mix together for about one minute until completely mixed.  I highly recommend that you get out a tea towel or a flour sack towel to drape loosely around your mixer.  When the butter solids begin to separate from the buttermilk - it makes a big splashy mess!  I use a flour sack towel to squeeze out my excess buttermilk, so this is what I use to also contain the splash of buttermilk.

This is the thick whipped cream stage.   Mmmm... looks so rich and good!

After several minutes, your cream will start transforming.  It will stay in a whipped cream state for quite awhile and then all of a sudden, it seperates from the water found in the cream.  You will know when your butter is ready to form.. it quickly seperates from the liquid!

Butter solids and buttermilk.  Save the buttermilk for Pancakes!

 
Using a spatula, gather up the butter solids into a ball and with your hands, form a large ball and place it on the flour sack towel or a double layer of cheesecloth.  Over the sink, twist the towel tightly around the ball to squeeze out even more water.  Now, dip the towel with the butter inside into the bowl of ice water.  Do this several times to rinse off the remaining liquid.

Gather the solids into a ball using a large spatula or just your hands

Wad the butter solids in a ball and use cheesecloth or a flour
sack towel to squeeze the last remnants of buttermilk out.

Transfer the butter to a bowl and add the salt or other seasonings.  Mix well with a fork, then use immediately.  Refrigerate the left over butter. 

Mmmm... fresh creamery butter.  Add your own flavors.. honey and cinnamon, chopped strawberries
or whatever you like.  A great base for compound butters.

Use the leftover buttermilk for recipes calling for buttermilk.  On a Sunday, try some buttermilk pancakes and fresh butter.  Store leftover buttermilk in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Yorkshire Puddings Ala Edna - English Traditions Perfect Every Time!

Thanks to Edna - for this lovely method of making delicious, and traditional Yorkshire Pudding!

The beautiful Miss Edna!  Thank you for sharing so much with me!



Mmmm.... straight from the oven.  Believe it or not, this was my very first
attempt at making Yorkshire Puddings!

My husband is British by birth and even though he spent his years growing up in Australia, his parents never abandoned their British heritage.  There are arguments to be made - both pro and con - as to the appeal of British cooking, but there is no doubt in my mind that there are certain British dishes that are absolutely and solidly the best of the best.

One of those dishes is traditional Yorkshire Puddings.  My husband once asked me if I could make him Yorkshire Pudding, just like his "Mum" used to make.  Well, having never had her Yorkies, I told her about his request and she was happy to share her culinary secret to this delightful side dish that accompanies a Sunday roast or a holiday Prime Rib.  I knew it was going to be special - she's given me many traditional recipes in the past, including her DELICIOUS Sausage Rolls... so I had no fear in trying this simple method. 

WHAT'S THE SECRET?

Edna swears that the secret to perfect Yorkies is all in how you measure the ingredients, the heat of your tin and letting your Yorkshire Pudding batter rest for quite awhile on the counter before baking. 

The measure of eggs determines the measure of everything else.  She also said that there are a few other tricks that are well known to great Yorkshire Pudding chef's, but not as well known to those of us who have never prepared them.  A quick review:

FIRST:  The eggs.  Break your whole eggs into a measuring cup, and NOTE THE MEASURE!  If you break four eggs, you might get exactly one cup of eggs.  Now you know the secret... you'll need EXACTLY this measure for the flour and the milk.  A couple of pinches of salt and you're all set!

SECOND:  Mix the eggs, flour, milk and salt together and let your batter rest on the counter for at least an hour.. maybe two.  Aging the batter makes them bake up higher, lighter and more flavorfully!

THIRD:  Get your baking "tin" super hot and add just a touch of the fat from the roast.  I like to use a deep popover tin or muffin tin.  Some like to use an 8x8 baking dish (metal) or other style dish.. anything works as long as it is able to safely heat to 450 degrees.  Put your fat into the wells of each cup and place in the oven.  Give it about 10 minutes and get the tin smoking hot... you should see and smell the fat smoking.  Then quickly add the batter and let them bake - DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN!  

Turn the oven light on and watch these Yorkies bake..
it's more entertaining than an old Benny Hill episode!

THE INGREDIENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS:

This recipe makes enough for 6 LARGE Yorkshire Puddings.  Add more eggs if you want to make more.  Use two tins for 12 Puddings, etc... you get the picture.

BASIC INGREDIENTS - Whole eggs, all purpose flour, milk (I like to use whole fat) and salt

1.  Break three large eggs into a measuring cup.  Note the measure and pour the eggs into a medium bowl. 

2.  Next, using a dry measuring cup, measure the exact amount of flour as the measured eggs, add to the bowl.  Now, measure the exact same amount of milk.  In other words, if you had one cup of whole eggs, you'll need one cup of flour and one cup of milk. 

3.  Add a couple of pinches of salt and whisk well until all flour is incorporated into the eggs, milk and salt.  Set aside, cover lightly with saran wrap and allow the batter to rest for at least one hour.  (NOTE:  You can let it set for less time, but the rising and taste won't be as good, but they still are wonderful!)

4.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees farenheit and prepare your deep well muffin tin.  There should be 6 to a tin.  Drop about 1/2 tsp of fat from a roast beef or bacon per tin.  You can use oil or shortening too... it just lacks in the meat flavor that makes Yorkies taste so great.  Do not use butter, it will burn at that temperature.

5.  When the oven has preheated fully... put the tin in the oven and let it heat for around 10 minutes or until your fat is starting to smoke slightly.  Carefully open the oven and ladle the batter in each tin.. about halfway up. 

6.  Bake for 20 minutes without opening the oven door.  Remove and serve immediately with your favorite meat and gravy.  Some people enjoy them cold with butter and sugar... it's up to you!