German Dinner with All the Fixins

Strap on your lederhosen, grab a stein of your favorite brew and tuck in. While hardly diet fare, this meal is on the lighter side, as far as German meals go. The schnitzel has a lovely puffy coat, the braised cabbage is tangy (and good for you!). All of this sits on top of chewy and slightly crispy spaetzle topped with a mushroom gravy.

Here are the links to the posts:
Schnitzel
Braised Cabbage with Bacon
Spaetzle and Mushroom Gravy

Glorious Spaetzle

This spaetzle recipe from Tyler Florence needs no improving on. Light yet slightly chewy, I can eat these right out of the pan. I served the spaetzle and schnitzel with a mushroom gravy (which turns your wiener schnitzel into a very impressive sounding jaeger schnitzel).

I'm a sucker for kitchen gadgets but I couldn't justify a device dedicated to spaetzle. So I improvised with a toaster oven tray. Chances are you have something around the kitchen that'll work. Just look for something with holes around 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter.

Ingredients for Spaetzle

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 large eggs

1/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions for Spaetzle

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. In another mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the egg-milk mixture. Gradually draw in the flour from the sides and combine well; the dough should be smooth and thick. Let the dough rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Bring 3 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large pot, then reduce to a simmer. To form the spaetzle, hold a large holed colander or slotted spoon over the simmering water and push the dough through the holes with a spatula or spoon. Do this in batches so you don't overcrowd the pot. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the spaetzle floats to the surface, stirring gently to prevent sticking. Dump the spaetzle into a colander and give it a quick rinse with cool water.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add the spaetzle; tossing to coat. Cook the spaetzle for 1 to 2 minutes to give the noodles some color. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Ingredients for Mushroom Gravy

10 ounce button mushrooms, slice 1/4 inch thick

2 slices thick cut bacon (or 3 slices thin cut)

1 small shallot, sliced thinly

2 tablespoon flour

1/4 cup madeira (or substitute white wine, dry sherry)

2 cups veal or chicken stock

Salt and pepper 

Directions for Gravy

Render bacon over medium heat until crispy, remove bacon from pan and leave fat behind. Turn heat up to medium high, sautee shallot for 2 minutes. Add sliced mushroom and sautee for another 5 to 7 minutes until mushroom start to soften. Add flour to pan and cook for another minute. Add wine to pan, reduce for a minute then add stock. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes until stock is slightly reduced and gravy is thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bring 3 quarts of salted water

Perfect Schnitzel

This is all in the technique and this version of the Cooks Illustrated recipe is a favorite. This is a very simple recipe but "shaking" the breaded cutlet in the pan gives the coating another dimension. You know you have it right when your finished product resembles a shar pei.

Weiner Schnitzel

Ingredients

1 lb thinly sliced veal or pork cutlet (pound to approx 1/4 inch thick)

1/2 cup flour

1 cup panko, run through food processor until you have fine crumbs

2 large egg

1-2 cups plus 1 tablespoon oil

Salt and pepper

Directions

Set up a 3-step station with (1) flour, (2) 2 large eggs, beaten with 1 tablespoon oil, (3) panko. Salt and pepper the cutlets. Dredge cutlet through flour, shake off excess. Dip in egg and then panko. Place breaded cutlets onto rack and let rest in refrigerator for 10 minutes to help coating set.

Heat oil to 325 degrees. Add a few cutlets to the pan. The oil should come up around the side of the cutlet. The amount of oil you’ll need will depend on the size of your pan.

And here is the most important part, once the meat hits the oil, start moving the pan vigorously back and forth so that some of the oil flows over the top of the cutlet. This is the key to getting the shar pei coating. After 2 to 3 minutes flip the cutlet and repeat. Remove from oil and sprinkle with salt.

You can hold the cutlets on a rack in a 200-degree oven.

Serve with lemon slices.

Braised Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage with Bacon

This is a great side dish that requires very little tending to. Just set it on the back burner as you're preparing the rest of your meal. Here's a German dinner idea that includes the cabbage with schnitzel and spaetzle.

Braised Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage with Bacon

Ingredients

1/2 head red cabbage – approx 1 lb

1 medium onion

2 slices thick cut bacon (or 3 slices thin cut)

1/4 cup white wine

2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup veal or chicken stock

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions

Slice cabbage into “cole slaw” cut but a bit wider, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wide. Cut onion into thin slices, about 1/4 inch.

Cut bacon into 1/4 inch pieces and render over medium heat until crispy. Remove bacon and leave the rendered fat behind. Add onion to pot and sautee for 5-7 minutes until slightly starting to color. Add cabbage and toss to coat with onion and fat.

Add wine and raise heat to medium high. When most of the wine has evaporated, add sugar, salt, a few grinds of pepper and stock. Lower heat to medium low, cover pan and cook for 45 minutes. Add vinegar and cook another 10 minutes. Adjust salt, pepper, sugar, vinegar to taste. Top with reserved bacon.

Granola and Rice Crisp Clusters

A couple of weeks ago I bought a container of of very tasty granola (Aurora's Vanilla Crunch Granola). But at nearly $6 for 14 oz, I figured it was worth a reverse engineer.

My favorite thing about this granola are the big chunky clusters which my daughter ate by the handful. The ingredient list gave me a couple of clues - in addition to oats, there's also crispy rice cereal which added to the crunch. There's also dried milk powder in it which I suspect helps it bind.

After a bit of digging, I found a few different recipes that suggested adding binders such as whipped egg whites, oat flour, and AP flour to help the granola hold together. I finally landed on this recipe on Food.com and adjusted to add some of the ingredients from the Aurora Granola.

Ingredients (makes about 3 cups)
1 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup crispy rice cereal
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoon dried milk powder
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup dried fruit (e.g., cranberries, raisins, blueberries)
1/4 cup chopped or slivered nuts (e.g., almonds, pumpkin seeds)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine oats, rice cereal, flour, dried milk powder. Melt butter and mix in brown sugar, salt, vanilla, and honey to combine. Pour over dry mixture, add fruit, nuts and toss gently to combine.

This makes a fairly small batch, so feel free to double. In this case, I used my toaster oven's cookie sheet which was the perfect size. Cover cookie sheet with parchment and pat the granola mixture over the sheet to 1/2 inch depth.

Place in pre-heated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Stir and rearrange mix to its original 1/2 inch deep shape and bake for another 10 minutes.

Let mixture cool completely and gently break into bite size clusters. Store in air tight container.

Easy Cheesy (Way Better than Red Lobster's) Biscuits

This is an adaptation of Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen's drop biscuit recipe. In this case I added cheese and some spices. Other additions that would be great would be chopped pickled jalapenos, scallions, cooked bacon.

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese (coarse grate or cut into small 1/8 inch cubes)
1 cup cold buttermilk (or reconstituted powdered buttermilk*)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons melted butter mixed with 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried parsley for brushing biscuits

*If substituting with powdered buttermilk, mix buttermilk powder with dry ingredients and water with wet ingredients.

Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475°F.

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and garlic powder. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in separate bowl.

Dry Ingredient Mixture

Melted Butter and Water (I used powdered buttermilk)

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients, add shredded cheese and stir until just incorporated (don't overmix) and batter pulls away from sides of bowl.

Cubed Cheese Added to Batter

Dough Mixture

 In this case, I separated the mixture into two batches - one that's a "grown up" version where I mixed in 1/4 cup chopped green onions and about 1 teaspoon finely chopped serrano.

Green Onion and Serrano for "Grown Up" 1/2 Batch

The "Grown Up" Batter Mixture

Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high).

Use Ice Cream Scoop for Smaller Biscuits

Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes. Watch the bottom of the biscuits, with all the butter and cheese, they burn easily. You may want to rotate your cookie sheets between the top two racks of your oven.

Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Basting of Biscuits

Quick Pickled Grape Tomatoes

I first had these pickled tomatoes at a restaurant where they were served as a component of a mixed pickled vegetable side dish alongside of a sandwich (burger?) I ordered for lunch. I've long since forgotten what I ordered for lunch, but these tomatoes made such an impression that I immediately tried to hunt down a recipe. This recipe from Epicurious is simple and very close to the original.

Combine ¾ c. cider vinegar, ¾ c. water, 4 tsp kosher salt, 2 tsp sugar, 1 strip lemon peel, ¼ c. fresh dill, 2 garlic cloves sliced, ¼ tsp dried red pepper with 12 oz cherry/grape tomatoes (first pierce tomatoes with toothpick). Marinate in fridge for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days. Perfect for snacking or as a garnish for sandwiches or cocktails.

Dining Japanese (Lots of Fish but No Sushi)

Trying out a few new recipes and a couple of old ones tonight. Starting off with chawan mushi. I just love saying chawan mushi. Here is a basic recipe. I've struggled with this dish over the years and recently learned that the ratio of eggs to dashi should be 1 to 3. In other words, ignore the recipes, and if your eggs are on the small side, add another one. Tonight I topped it with a bit of leftover Chinese roast pork.

 Next up was salmon. I wanted to try something different and this cold pickled salmon dish fit the bill. Salmon Nanban-zuke is quick fried salmon that's tossed in a Japanese vinagrette -- a mixture of rice vinegar, soy, sugar. Here's a recipe that added a bit of dashi (I cut that down significantly since other recipes I looked at called for no dashi at all).

And more fish - this time miso cod a la Nobu. I have to admit, I've never been a big fan of this dish even when I had it at the restaurant. But cod was on sale and I was committed to Japanese, so I gave it another shot. Gotta say, I liked it but didn't love it. I feel like the miso just takes over. Here's a Food and Wine recipe for the dish.

Had a few of my daughters' friends tonight for dinner and decided we needed a crowd pleaser in case the fish dishes didn't go over well (and I was right). Who doesn't love fried chicken. In this case, it was kara age. I really liked this recipe -- marinade chicken thigh pieces (with skin on) then I dredged in a combination of flour (I used Wondra, great for frying) and cornstarch.

 In all, a great dinner! My daughter's friend asked "do you eat like this every night?" And I responded "of course not, only on Sundays."

Momofuku Rice Sticks with Dragon Sauce

This is a simple recipe and a nice break from traditional starches. I served it along with miso soup, Momofuku's pork belly buns.

Here are the main ingredients: rice sticks (find in frozen food section of Asian market), dragon sauce, sesame seeds for garnish.

Dragon Sauce

• 60g (1/4 cup) water
• 50g (1/4 cup) sugar
• 180g (6 tablespoons) ssämjang (Korean seasoned/chili bean paste)
• 15g (1 tablespoons) light soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sherry vinegar (or more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (or more to taste)

In a small saucepan over high heat, stir together the water and sugar until it boils and all the sugar is dissolved. Take off the heat and let cool for a few minutes. Stir in the ssämjang, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil until combined.

 

Rice Cakes

• 1/4 cup mirin
• 1/4 cup broth
• 1/2 cup Red Dragon Sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 long rice cake sticks (about 500 g)
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup sliced scallions

 

In a large saucepan over high heat, bring the mirin and broth to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the red dragon sauce. Reduce until thick and glossy, about 7 minutes. Add the roasted onions, stir to combine, and turn off the heat.

If your rice sticks are frozen, simmer for 3 minutes in boiling water, then rinse very well and drain.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until smoking, then add the rice cakes and reduce the heat to medium. Sear the rice cakes about 3 minutes a side or until light golden brown all over. Transfer them to a cutting board and cut into 3/4 inch lengths.

Turn the heat back on under the sauce and heat until boiling. Toss in the rice cakes and sesame seeds for a few seconds. Serve hot with the sliced scallions on top.

Here are the finished rice sticks. I probably could have fried them a bit longer to get them even crispier on the outside.

 

Homemade Pizza - Dough and All (Part 2) Mini Chicago Deep Dish Pizzas

I love me some deep dish pizza and wanted to play with an appetizer size to lower the guilt factor and up the cute factor.

 

Ingredients

• Fresh pizza dough (homemade or store bought) - See Part 1 of Post
• Mozzarella cheese
• Sweet sausage, removed from casing, cooked and crumbled
• Marinara sauce
• Muffin tin for forming the dough

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven and inverted muffin pan to 500-degrees for at least 10 minutes.
2. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick, 1/2 inch larger than the bottom of muffin tin around all sides. Prick with fork to minimize puffing.
3. Remove heated pan from oven, apply small amount of oil to the inverted tin, and drape the dough over the tin. Repeat with remaining rounds. Place dough on every other spot to allow room for even baking.
4. Bake in 500 degree oven for 10 minutes until set and starting to brown.

 

Dough Rounds After 10 Minutes Pre-Baking

 

5.  Layer thinly sliced mozzarella on the bottom of crust.

 

Crust with Mozarella

 

 6. Add layer of sausage (if using), marinara sauce, parmesan cheese. If you'd like, add another layer of mozzarella to the top.

 

Mini Pizzas Ready for Baking

 7. Brush olive oil on edge of crust. Reduce oven heat to 400 degrees and bake 15 minutes until cheese is melted and crust is browned.

 

Here are the final pies along with an assortment of other tasty appetizers.

 

The Final Spread: Smoked Wings, Mini Chicago Pies, Buffalo Wings, Mini Potato Skins

Homemade Pizza - Dough and All (Part 1)

I'm used to buying pizza dough from the market and while it's not expensive, I've always found it a bit gummy and hard to work with. In my search for a homemade recipe that's worthy of the effort, I came across what I think is the winner.


This is not a last minute dish - you'll need to plan ahead at least a full day for the sponge to set up overnight and the dough to proof.


Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe from Epicurious


Sponge:

• 1 cup lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F)
• 1 envelope active dry yeast (approx 2-1/4 teaspoon, divided into 1 teaspoon and 1-1/4 teaspoon)
• 1 cup all purpose flour, separated

Dough:

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm (110°F to 115°F) water
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 6 cups (or more) all purpose flour
• Olive oil
• Yellow cornmeal

I've never made a sponge but apparently from the reviews, this makes a huge amount of difference.

Ingredients for the Sponge: Yeast, Water and Flour

First the proofing -- 1 teaspoon yeast, is combined with the warm (110 to 115 degrees) water, along with 1/4 teaspoon flour. After 5 to 10 minutes you should start to see a change in the mixture. It'll look a little cloudy as the yeast starts to feed off the flour.

About 5 Minutes After 1 Teaspoon Yeast, 1/4 Teaspoon Flour and Water Combined

Then the remaining 1 cup of flour is added to the mixture.

Combined Remaining Flour to Starter

After a couple of hours, the mixture will look decidedly more "sponge like." Set it aside on the counter and let it sit overnight.


Sponge After Two Hours

My day got away from me and I didn't have a chance to photograph the dough itself (will update post next time I make the recipe).

To the rested sponge, add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 envelope yeast, and reserved remaining yeast (1-1/4 teaspoon) to sponge, then add 6 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating with dough hook to blend after each addition.

Continue to beat until dough is smooth and comes away from sides of bowl. It should be barely sticky to the touch - about 5 minutes. If dough is very sticky, add in more flour, 1/4 cup at a time. I found that I only needed 5-1/2 cups so keep an eye on the mix. Scrape dough onto floured surface and knead to form a smooth ball.

Brush inside of large bowl with oil. Add dough; turn to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill 6 hours, kneading dough down when doubled (after 2 hours).

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead gently; shape into 16-inch log. Cut into 8 equal pieces. Knead each piece into smooth ball.

Arrange 2 balls of dough on each sheet. Cover loosely with kitchen towels and let rise until almost doubled, 1 to 1-1/4 hours.

[If you are not using the entire recipe -- this made almost 3.5 lbs of dough in my case, enough for 8 9-inch pizzas -- at this point, divide the dough and freeze what you're not using.]

About 1 1/2 hours before baking, dust a baking sheet with flour. If using pizza stone, place in oven. If you don't have a pizza stone, a rimless baking sheet (or an upside down rimmed baking sheet) works great - just make sure to pre-heat it in the hot oven.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees for 45 minutes. Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough with flour. Press into 5-inch round, then gently stretch and roll out to 9-inch round.

If using pizza stone, sprinkle pizza peel or rimless baking sheet with cornmeal. Top as desired. Slide pizza onto stone or place pizza on baking sheet into oven. Bake pizza until sauce is bubbling and crust is crisp and brown, lifting edge of pizza to check underside, about 14 minutes.

If you don't have a pizza stone (in which case I'm going to guess you don't have a pizza peel either), I prefer to pre-bake the dough because transferring a slab of wobbly dough piled high with ingredients is not an easy task. First remove the pre-heated baking sheet from the oven, wipe with a thin layer of oil (use spray oil or a paper towel wadded up and saturated with oil). Quickly transfer your dough to the sheet pan. Don't take too long in this process, you don't want to lose too much heat from the pan. After 5 minutes in the 500-degree oven, remove from oven, add toppings and bake another 10 minutes.

Recipe:
Overnight Pizza Dough from Epicurious

Easy Baking: Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins - Perfect Snacks

Nothing cuter than mini muffins! This allrecipes version is amazing. I did a half recipe and winded up with 2 dozen beautiful mini muffins.

Ingredients for Muffin

• 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 egg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips

Ingredients for Streusel

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips.
• Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
• Make streusel mixture and sprinkle on top of muffins.
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

It looks like a lot of ingredients but once you get everything in place, it's just a matter of mixing it all together. And you don't even need to drag out your mixer - a wooden spoon will do.

Ingredients for the Muffin

Mix the dry ingredients together and the wet ingredients together. I combined the mashed bananas with the wet ingredients. The only thing that waits until the end are the chocolate chips.

Dry and Wet Ingredients (Chocolate Chips Patiently Awaiting Their Turn)

Combine the dry and wet with a wooden spoon until incorporated. This will be a very stiff batter -- sort of like oatmeal that's been sitting overnight.

Muffin Batter

The muffin pans are ready, the chocolate chips have been added to the batter and the streusel is made

Batter (in the back) and Streusel (in front)

I used a small ice cream scoop to drop in the batter, then topped with streusel. The scoop holds one tablespoon and if you're not a kitchen tool hoarder like me, a tablespoon measure would be perfect. It'll help to spray the spoon before scooping for easy release.

For some reason I winded up with 23 muffins this time around - last time I made this recipe I had 24 and then extra. Oh well.

Ready for the Oven

The best part of this pan is that it fits perfectly in my toaster oven. If I can avoid firing up the big oven, it's always a win.

The Finished Muffins

Recipe:

• Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin from allrecipes

Easy Baking: The Best Dinner Rolls

I've never had much luck with bread - it always turns out too dense, tastes a bit too "yeasty" and mostly winds up in the garbage after everyone has the obligatory first bite. I'm trying to start with the easy stuff and giving myself every advantage by splurging on a fancy mixer with a dough hook. I hope today's experiment is any indication of good things to come.

I love dinner rolls -- particularly those with a touch of sweet. I came across this recipe from allrecipes, well rates by over 1,800 people so I figured what have I got to lose! The recipe below is adjusted from the allrecipes version which is intended for bread machines.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour [I reduced to 3 cups]
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

Directions

1. Warm water and milk to 110 degrees, add sugar and yeast and proof for 10 minutes in the mixer bowl.
2. Once yeast is puffy, add 1/3 cup butter, salt, and 1/2 of the flour to the mixer bowl with dough hook in place. Mix at medium high for 2 minutes until mostly combined then add remainder of the flour. Mix until everything is well incorporated and dough wraps around the hook - about another 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Allow dough to rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours, until doubled.
4. Punch down dough and divide into 27 pieces (having a digital scale helps here) - placing 9 pieces of dough per pan (I used a 9-inch cake pan) Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F .
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.

I proofed the yeast with a warmed mixture of milk and water (heated to about 110 degrees), then added the sugar. I had yeast from the jar and winded up using 2 teaspoon. I also adjusted the amount of flour down to 3 cups based on one of the reviews to get a less dense roll. After the first rise, I split the dough in 27 dough balls.


Dough Balls After First Proofing

  After a 2nd rise, I placed into a 350-degree oven. Unfortunately I think my lower rack was a bit too low. The top looked great but the bottom side of the two pans on the lower racked were pretty much burnt. Good news is that the pan on the top shelf turned out perfect! After they came out of the oven, I brushed some melted butter over the top.

Recipe:

• Sweet Dinner Rolls

Osso Buco Night

I tend to shop the sales when it comes to meats and today I was lucky enough to come across veal shanks on special. It's delicious and super easy -- really hard to go wrong with it. On the Sunday menu tonight is osso buco, risotto milanese and sauteed zucchini.

My osso buco recipe is a compilation of different recipes I've used over the years -- adjusted to serve two.

Ingredients for Osso Buco

• 2 pieces veal shank (approx ¾ lb each)
• ½ medium onion, diced
• ½ carrot, diced
• ½ stalk celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic diced
• 2 plum tomatoes, diced – if not in season, use canned, preferably San Marzano
• 1/3 cup white wine or fortified wine
• 1 cup stock
• 1 bay leaf
• Flour for dusting veal shank
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Salt and pepper veal shanks, lightly dust with flour and sear over medium high heat until browned, about 3 minutes each side.
3. Remove shanks and add onion, carrots and celery to pan and sautee 5 to 7 minutes until softened and beginning to color.
4. Add garlic, stir for a minute then add tomatoes, continue cooking another 2 minutes. Add wine and simmer for another 2 minutes. Add stock and bay leaf.
5. Return veal shanks to pan (if oven safe) or transfer to oven-safe baking dish. Liquid should come up to about ½ way up the side of the meat, add more stock if necessary.
6. Bake covered in 375 oven for 1-1/2 hours.

Here are the veal shanks, salted, peppered and lightly floured.

Veal Shanks Before Cooking

Next the vegetables are sauteed.

Sauteed Vegetables for Osso Buco

Finally everything comes together. Since I didn't have a small oven safe pan, I transferred everything to a Pyrex.

Osso Buco about to go into Oven

And here's the final dish, served with risotto milanese (Anne Burrell's recipe is easy and excellent). The osso buco is topped with a simple gremolata of grated lemon rind, parsley and chopped toasted pine nuts.

Osso Buco, Risotto Milanese and Sauteed Zucchini

Recipes:

• Risotto Milanese from Food Network

Bread and Brisket

I finally broke down and bought a standing mixer. I've never had any luck with bread and everything I've been reading is telling me that my lazy kneading technique is to blame. So I caved (with a 20% Bed Bath & Beyond coupon as the enabler) -- but I'm pretty sure I'll never make enough bread to justify the cost of the KitchenAid, but I can dream.

So ta da - here is the bread! I went simple, Googled "foolproof bread recipe" and came across this recipe for Amish White Bread. It was definitely easier with the mixer and while not perfect, it definitely beats my previous attempts at bread baking.

With the other half of the brisket left over from last weekend's BBQ brisket recipe, I defrosted and searched for a recipe for braised brisket (aka pot roast). This recipe from Cooks Illustrated that I found on a discussion board sounded perfect. After it was cooked through (to 190 degrees), I let it rest for an hour, sliced it, and then put it back in the defatted gravy to heat through in the oven until dinner time.  Perfectly moist, very tender and tremendously yummy.

Finally, it was time to break in the mixer for dessert. I love chocolate mousse and since it had plenty of whipping involved, it gave me another reason to justify the purchase. I looked through a number of recipes and landed on this one from Tyler Florence since I got to whip the cream and egg whites (a few recipes omit egg whites -- don't know about you, but I always hate those recipes that use either the yolk or the white. Do I throw the other part away? Do I put it in a container, forget about it, and throw it away later?

And of course someone else out there has thought this through. Here is a link to ideas for leftover egg yolks (conveniently categorized by number of yolks). The ideas for leftover egg whites tend to revolve around baked goods like meringue, macaroons, angel food cake. Here are a few ideas here.

Recipes:

• Amish White Bread
• Cook's Illustrated Onion Braised Brisket (scroll on the discussion board)
• Tyler Florence's Chocolate Mousse
• Ideas for Leftover Egg Yolks
• Ideas for Leftover Egg Whites

Easy Baking: The Easiest Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

I'm not good at baking. I don't have the patience and I like to improvise with recipes -- personality traits that do not suit creating baked goods.

That said, it's a snowy day and I thought I'd give this baking thing another shot. Let me just say, this one-bowl chocolate cupcakes recipe rocks! It is dead simple, doesn't have a ton of sugar or oil and is absolutely delicious. I used a half recipe which makes 24 mini cupcakes.

And no I didn't make my own frosting - it's from the can, thinned with a little warm water and piped through a makeshift piping bag using a sandwich bag.

Recipes:

• Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake

Smoked Brisket (thanks Myron Mixon!)

A few months back, I was fortunate enough to take a weekend class with Myron Mixon - the "winningest man in BBQ" and a regular on pretty much any show about bbq that you'll come across. The class was life-changing, because for the first time ever, I understood the fuss about brisket. His brisket was juicy, smoky, tender -- honestly, just having a taste of what brisket should be was worth taking the class alone.

The problem with brisket is that it doesn't scale down very well. But it's a long weekend and I was feeling ambitious. On the menu this Sunday was a green salad with pamesan tuiles and garlic bread crumbs, smoked brisket and ribs, Myron's very awesome potato salad, and chocolate meringue cookies (nope, not a Myron recipe).

The salad was simple - oil and vinegar. Made it fancy with parmesan tuiles (top left of bowl) - simply taking a spoonful of parmesan and frying it up. Fancified it even more by draping the cooked and still hot cheese across a spoon handle to make it curly. Here's a straight forward recipe of how to make tuiles here. It was also topped with panko crumbs sauteed with minced garlic.



Here are the smoked meats. In the front are smoked ribs that I cooked alongside the brisket (in the back of the picture). I'm not a competition cook so I definitely don't work as hard at precision as others, but I do what I can to draw within the lines when it comes to the basic techniques. Here is Myron's recipe for brisket - which is very close to what he showed us during the class. The key is in the injection which keeps the meat moist during a fast cook. I made a version of the injection with a couple spoons of "better than boullion" beef base dissolved in water -  it needs to be salty, taste it and if it's just a hair over palatable in terms of saltiness, you're good.

In a future post, I'll do a detailed recipe and pics on ribs and a few tips for making tasty bbq without all the hassle. Note the beautiful smoke ring on the ribs - see, I don't skimp too much.

The verdict on the brisket was that while it was moist, it could have benefitted from more smoke - will try smoking it out of the pan and waiting a bit longer until wrapping in foil (I wrapped at 160 today and kept it on until 195). As evidence, it definitely didn't have the requisite smoke ring (part of the reason I hid the slices behind the ribs). But compared to my past attempts at smoking brisket, this wasn't entirely disappointing but it was nowhere near Myron's masterpiece. The final douse of reheated, degreased juices definitely helped a lot.

To accompany the meat, there was a potato salad. During his class, he served an amazing potato salad. This recipe is close but not exact. The salad he served didn't have eggs and it tasted like it was a little heavier on sour cream. But the recipe is close enough and solidly yummy.

Finally, a very un-Myron recipe -- meringue cookies! I had some egg white left over from a molten chocolate cake recipe and what better than meringue. This is a great recipe that I slightly augmented based on comments to reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup, also whirled the sugar in the food processor prior to adding to simulate superfine sugar. Since the food processor was out, I also chopped up the chocolate chips a bit so they blended in better. I also winded up baking it to a full hour to get the crispness I wanted.

And another Sunday done and eaten.