Cornbread Breakfast Casserole

I've been working on school stuff recently, so I was unable to post anything, but now I'm free to do so.  As you may know, the last post I made was soul food. and I made some killer soul food.  But I had a lot of left over cornbread, like about half a pan.  So I decided to make some breakfast casserole from it.

Cornbread Breakfast Casserole

½ a pan of cornbread cubed or 1½-2 cups cubed corn bread

1½ cups milk

2 eggs beaten into milk

1 tsp salt

2 strips of bacon chopped up

¼ Onion chopped up

¼-½ cup cheddar cheese shredded or match-sticks

½ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp garlic powder

Dash of all-spice

1 tsp mustard (optional)

First cut up the corn bread carefully place it in a chaffing dish or casserole dish.

Next cover with cheese.

Sautee onions, bacon/sausage, and spices. Add on top and pour over the milk and egg mixture.

Cook at 350 Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before eating.

Huggsies!!!
Kyle

Soul Food (Black-eyed Peas, Cornbread, Tarte Tatin, Fried Chicken)

Okay-..so today I killed on my Spanish midterm, the weekend is here, and  feel altogether good today.  So for some reason I was listening to awesome music and decided out of the blue to make soul food...idk...I was raised in the south and love me some soul food.

I decided to make black-eyed peas, corn bread, and fried chicken and on the side for dessert apple pie.  But since I watched Julia Child make a Tarte Tatin the night before...I decided on that instead, especially since I had already made apple pie many times before. 

I'm going to start by showing you how to make Black-eyed Peas.

Kyle's Southern Black-Eyed Peas

½ lb Black-Eyed Peas

3 strips bacon cubed and fried in:

1½ tsp brown sugar

½ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp garlic powder

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of all-spice

First get some black-eyed peas (about half of a 1 pound bag) and soak them in water anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.  Now chop up 3 pieces of bacon into chunks.

Add the bacon into a heavy-bottomed  pot and add in the spices and sugar.  

Sautee the bacon in the pan until it cooks through and browns.

Now add in the beans and water...or drain the water with and add new water just to cover the beans before pouring it in. Keep all the fat in the recipe.

Basically just boil the beans for about 1 hour covered, replacing water as they cook.  Once they are cooked through and are soft, remove the lid (or if it has holes on the side, turn it) to continue cooking them until almost all the water has been cooked out.  Take it off the heat and recover them until they are eaten.

Okay now I'm going to show you how to make some fried chicken. 

Kyle's Fried Chicken

Egg wash:

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp salt

Dash ancho

Dash all-spice

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of ginger (small)

2 - 4 tsp pickle juice

1 egg

1 - 2 Tbsp corn starch

1 tsp water

Breading:

¾ cup of bread crumbs

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp black powder

Dash of allspice

Dash of nutmeg

1/8 cup flour

1 tsp season-all

1 Tbsp melted butter cut in

First mix up the egg wash really well.

Now mix up the breading in a bag really well and defrost the chicken.  

Next you need to dry the chicken with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.  It helps the chicken have more egg-wash coating on it.  Now take the chicken tenderloins, wings, or legs that you dried off and place them in the egg-wash.  Coat them well and them immediately transfer them to the bag with the crumbs and shake them to coat. 

After they are coated, you need to fry them.  I tend to have one oil for frying savory things like chicken, one for fishy things like fish and chips, and one for frying sweets like doughnuts.  Also it helps to have oil that is pre-used or seasoned.  When you use oil it makes natural 'soaps' (according to alton brown) that help make the fried foods fried in them taste better.  My favorite oils to use are peanut and corn, but any flavorless oil that can take heat well (soy bean, high purity olive oil, rapeseed/canola oil, and vegetable oil) are excellent fofr frying.  

First heat up the oil on medium to medium high until it is hot enough to where when you drop in a piece on an onion or potato it fries a little under the oil and then floats.  Once it gets there turn it from Medium to Medium-low and put the chicken in.  Cook them until golden brown and cooked all the way through.  

It's a pretty okay fried chicken recipe by southern standards...fried chicken is just hard apparently...

Another way I find that works out well  is to make a batter by adding in little bits of the crumb mixture to the egg wash until it's a thick batter and them coating the dried-off raw chicken in that before frying them.  It makes a much thicker fried chicken crust and is what I prefer to do. (use chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts....truuuuuuust me on this one...it makes a difference).

Now onto the cornbread. Cornbread is a quick bread (using baking soda or baking powder instead of yeast) made in the South and Southwest using corn meal, oil, wheat flour, and milk.  It's super easy to make but can dry out easily if not cooked well.

Kyle's Cornbread

1 cup Corn flour

¾ cup of all purpose flour

¼ cup (4 Tbsp) of butter (melted)or fat drippings from bacon or sausage (etc.)

1½ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp baking soda/powder

1¼ cup milk or buttermilk

1 egg

(all the following are optional)

2 Tbsp cheddar cheese

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of ground all-spice

Dash of ancho chili powder

Dash of black pepper

Dash of garlic powder

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Basically mix up the butter, flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking soda/powder in a bowl and mix it well, cutting in the butter if necessary.  Next add in the egg and beat it.  And last add in the spices, cheese, and milk if you'd like.  Move it into a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet.

Now simply cook the bread in the oven for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Immediately after taking it out cover it with foil so it does not dry out.  Serve it with soul food! Omnomnomnom...(fun fact...not a big fan of corn bread for some reason...never have been... >_>;)

And now lastly but not leastly...TARTE TATIN!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! (amazing and simple dish)  It's actually a French dish and most southern homes would serve peach pie, pecan pie, apple pie, or sweet fried sweet potatoes (commonly called sweet potato souffle..it's sweet, buttery sweet potatoes mashed and cooked with cinnamon and a wonderful pecan and pie crust on top. suffice it to say....it's gooooood).

Tarte Tatin

6 apples peeled sliced (preferably golden delicious)

6 Tbsp butter

½ cup sugar

2 tsp starch

Pie crust or puff pastry

Pie crust:

1 cup flour

4 Tbsp butter

1-2 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

enough water to make the crust mix and be pliable

Now first you need to peel, core, and section the apple.  Place them in a nice design arranged around the bottom of a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet.

Next you sprinkle on starch softly, sugar, and lumps of the butter.

Next you have to be very careful because cast-iron conducts heat very well.  Place the skillet over heat and cook the apples well on the heat WITHOUT stirring them at all.  In the mean time roll out a pastry to place over it.  When the apples have seeped juice and it starts to thicken the tiniest bit (about 3-5 minutes) place the crust on top of the tarte and place it in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. 

After it has cooked a while, keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.  You may not want to cook it the full 10 minutes.  If the juice caramelized and is turning brown, I would take it out.  After it has cooked a while, then turn on the broiler and place the tarte close to the broiler until it barely crisps on top.  Let it sit for about 10-20 minutes to cool before you try the next part.  Take it and place a plate or something that is heat-proof and place it over and flip it so it comes out on the plate or dish.

Once it's out scrape off any pieces of apple that stuck and put them on top of the tart.  Cut and serve! It's the best simple dessert I've ever made!! >:D  If the tarte isn't brown on the bottom, you can broil it for a short while.

And that's all she wrote....I'm spent for the night.  I spent a whole 2 hours writing this that I should have spent on my latino gender paper that's 6 pages long...oh well. I'm drinking a glass of red wine to help atone for my fat-based sins tonight. :'(

On a last note,in addition to these foods, soul foods can also be brisket, chitlins (chitterlings), collard greens, mac and cheese (which I have a recipe for earlier), barbecued pork and chicken, biscuits and gravy, sausage patties, gravy, mashed potatoes, and more.

Love,
Kyle

Kyle's Pork Rib Stew

Since I've been studying Baltic and Scandinavian food cultures a bit during classes and cooking them later the same day, I decided to make my own stew from the region. So I decided upon pork rib stew because I had it readily along with a giant bag of potatoes. So on with the recipe!!

Kyle's Pork Rib Stew

1½ cups of mixed beans

3 potatoes

½-1 Yellow Onion

2 Ancho chilies diced

6-8 pork ribs (spare ribs)

½ Bay Laurel

¼ tsp black pepper

1 pinch of all-spice

Pinch of thyme

Pinch of Oregano

Pinch of dill

Pinch of sage

Salt to taste

1 tsp vinegar

2 tsp sherry

1 tsp garlic powder

Basically all you need to do is put everything into a crock pot.  Peel and dice the potatoes to desired size and add to the pot.  Cut the onion into pieces that are bite-sized and put them into the pot.  Soak the beans ahead of time for an hour and then drain them and add them to the pot.  I used black beans, pinto beans, and lentils.  Dice up the Anchos and add them to the pot.  Cut the pork ribs into individual rib pieces and set them in the bottom of the pot surrounded by everything else.  Pack everything in tightly and add in the spices and such. Cover the ingredients with water until they are barely covered.  Turn the pot on and cook it all for about 6-8 hours in the crock pot until the pork and beans are thoroughly cooked through. 

Bon appetite!!

~Kyle~

Cinnamon Bran Oatmeal

Okay....I was separating my rye flour from the granary in Watkinsville because my flour, while it's delicious granary milled flour...it's far too bran-filled to make pliable pie crust from (amazing crackers tho). So I separated it and had so much freaking bran left over....it was like 60 to 40 flour to bran.  So I decided to experiment...and I found this oatmeal yummy.


Cinnamon Bran Oatmeal

¾ cup rolled oats

1½ cups milk

2 Tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

1 Tbsp Rye or wheat bran

 

Cook it in a pot on the stove until all the water is absorbed and it is the consistency of oatmeal.  You can use instant oats...but I prefer fresh rolled oats...the kind I buy from the Granary.  

Anywho...this oatmeal is a basic milk oatmeal and when it's hot, the bran part of the oatmeal is quite delicious.  If you use rye bran...it will be sort of Rye flavored...albeit a flavor I love.  I don't know how you feel about it though...so that's why I added in wheat bran as an option.

Hopefully you will like it too and it will be an excellent source of fiber.

~Kyle S.~

Karelian Pastry

I made this recipe the other day when I roasted a whole chicken and had left-over potatoes.  I decided to make it when I was sitting in my educational psychology class and looking up Baltic foods.  It looked amazing. I saw it right on the main page of wikipedia's page on Finnish foods.

Traditional Karelian Pasties are made using very simple ingredients.  Often it's a filling of just rice, milk, butter, and eggs OR potato, butter, cream and eggs.  But they have also been know to contain other cereals like buckwheat, talkkuna, or millet.  They are made using rye crust, and since rye doesn't have much gluten, you have to be careful when molding the crust.

I decided to mix it up and make it more of a french tasting recipe like croquettes inside a nice rye crust.  I added in the onion and cheese because I think it'd make it better tasting....Om nom nom!

Karelian Pasties

Crust:

½ cup finely ground rye flour

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp salt

2 Tbsp Softened Butter

1 Tbsp peanut oil

1/8 cup water plus 1 Tbsp

½ tsp Baking Powder

Filling:

½ cup toasted mashed potatoes

1/8 cup cheddar cheese

1 Tbsp sour cream

1 egg yolk

1/8 cup onion minced and sautéed

1/8 tsp salt

Sprinkle garlic powder when you cook it

First you have to mix up the filling and crust.  Since the crust doesn't have much gluten in it it will be hard to handle and thus it's best to try and avoid over mixing or putting too much oil/fat so that it's more manageable.  But try not to make it all water because then it'll be too tough.Now roll out the dough into a piece about 9'12 inches across.

Now spread on the filling.

Crimp up the edges like a pie and fold it over and then press it down a little. It should look better than mine...like wavy crimp instead of just folded over...

Then you cook it at about 350 degrees or a bit more if you want it browner and crispier. It should cook around 25 minutes.

Just basically eat it like a pie.  It's yummylicious.  Betsy approves!

If you wanted to do the traditional filling, then use potatoes, an egg, salt, cream, and chunk butter.  If you want rice filling you can add in cooked rice, milk, an egg, salt, and a little butter.

That's all...luv ya....cyber hugs!!!

BYE!
Kyle!

Salmon!!! (Teriyaki Salmon, stock, and Gravlax)

I...since I have little to do right now decided to write an entire blog dedicated to Salmon! Especially since I bought a huge side of a salmon at Walmart and didn't know what to do with it....it...was...huge...! So I first thawed it and cut it into sections.  Then from there I made some gravlax.  I also put aside a fillet for myself for dinner which I would make into teriyaki Salmon.  And lastly I didn't want to waste anything so I made some yummy salmon stock!

First I'll show you how to make gravlax.  Gravlax is Swedish for grave salmon and was originally made by fermenting salmon underground when it was freshly caught.  Now they make it by preparing it with more cleanliness.

It's commonly made one of two ways.  The normal way is to mix together salt, sugar, and black pepper and put it on a fresh fillet of salmon.  Then you place that on a bed of dill and wrap it up to sit for a week in the fridge.

I do it differently...which is probably why mine is saltier.

Gravlax

1 small salmon fillet cut into nigiri shaped strips

½ Tbsp sugar

½ Tbsp salt

½-1 tsp fresh packed and chopped dill

¼ tsp black pepper

First thing you have to do is dry off the salmon with a paper towel if you want.  Then you cut it into small 1in x 2.5in x 0.25in pieces.  

Now mix together the salt, sugar, dill (yummy...the more the better), and black pepper and mix it in with the salmon pieces in a bowl.  

Now that it is all mixed and coated evenly...let it sit a bit and drain some of the water.  After that move all the pieces by placing them individually into a can or bag to sit in the fridge.

Now just set it in the fridge for about 2 days to a week or so.  Wash off as much salt by soaking them and squeeze them before you use the pieces...trust me...it'll be too salty. I love to eat it on rye crackers with a mustard sauce as a yummy appetizer. But you can mix mustard and mayonnaise and put it on a toasted little piece of french bread with the gravlax on top.

Another great thing you can do with salmon is make it teriyaki style.  Since I worked at Choochoo Korean and Japanese fast food I know how to both cook salmon and make teriyaki.  Teriyaki is basically soy sauce, sugar, mirin (Mirin Wiki), and sugar (A surprising amount).

Teriyaki Salmon

1 Salmon filet

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp Mirin

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

½ Tbsp Sugar

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp garlic

1 tsp sake

½ tsp vinegar

First and most important is to wash off the salmon fillet really well and dry it with a paper towel really well too to leech any super-fishy salmon taste from the salmon.  If it's fresh caught it probably isn't as important.  You´ll want a nice orange fillet sliced into pieces about ½"-¼" thick and the normal shape of a salmon fillet.  It's not necessary, but the salmon cooks faster and has a better flavor if it's thinner.

Now you'll want to mix everything together in a bag and put the salmon in it for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.  This marinating time helps impart the delicious teriyaki flavor.  Once it has marinated, make a small aluminum boat to put the fillet on to grill it. (If you're gonna an fry it just put some oil and some of the sauce in a NON-STICK pan and cook it until the salmon is cooked through and the sauce has caramelized and turned into a sauce).

Grill the salmon until it has cooked all the way through. I often add oil or some of-all the sauce from the marinade in the boat to help it cook better and make a sauce.

 

Once it's cooked it's great on lightly salted white rice with the sauce from the marinade poured over it.  I like it with peanut butter fried rice (which is rice basically fried with peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, coriander, ginger, salt, and coconut).

It's yummytastic....I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!  It actually reminds me a lot of what eel tastes like in japan...especially the kind I have on sushi! ^_^

Lastly, when you buy a giant salmon side, you are left with the fatty skin from the side.  Most people simply throw this away because it's "useless", BUT I hate waste and use every part of something. So what I do is I boil down the skin in water to produce a nice salmon stock to use in soups (Baltic, Slavic or European, etc.).

Salmon Stock

1 salmon skin (salmon side)

Pinch of salt

Pinch of dill weed

Pinch of garlic powder

2-4 cups of water

Basically the recipe is easy. Boil the skin in water for about 2 hours and refill the pot with necessary amounts of water as it cooks down.

After it has cooked down, remove the skin and use a fine, mesh strainer or hand sieve to strain out the gunk and herbs.

Salmon stock is so pretty and clean looking.  If you can use fish heads and bones too when you makes stock; it's know to make better stocks (but always remove the gills because they're known to contain toxins).

If you want to make a fish stock it often helps to use the best fish for making stocks like rock fish, or if you're making a bouillabaisse, it helps to use French seasonings (Orange Peel, Garlic, Saffron, Bay laurel) instead of Baltic ones (Dill, Black Pepper, Garlic).

Bon Appetite!
Kyle S.