This spice ratio was found to not work so well in a beef stew environment (for me it was a wee bit too spicy), but this tastes great when used as a spice rub for rotisseried chicken. I suppose you could swap out the flour component of it for another starch that has less gluten in it, if you were trying to stay away from wheat. I keep this in a glass jar; mostly because a plastic container would absorb the odor of many of the spices in this mixture and it's easier to see what's in the jar.
Ingredients
1 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp ground thyme
1 tbsp dried basil, crushed
1 tbsp celery seed
2 tsp dried oregano, crushed
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
Directions
In a clean glass jar, add all the ingredients, stir together with a fork/knife/spoon/chopstick/etc, cover the jar with its lid, then shake to combine. It's only dried spices, so as long as you don't allow moisture into the jar it should keep for a few months.
For beef stew, use 2-3 tablespoons per pound of meat. Add to stew and stir in to incorporate. If you're making this in a slow cooker or Crockpot and you have vegetables in it, crack the lid open a little to simmer off the excess liquid or the stew won't thicken up.
For BBQ or rotisserie chicken parts, use 2-3 teaspoons per pound of meat. Put mix into a small bowl and use your fingers to coat each chicken part with the seasoning mix. The addition of flour (versus other types of food starch) creates a crisp savory layer as the chicken cooks, assuming you haven't taken the skin (the best part!) off the chicken.
Fried Apple Pies
What makes a good fried fruit pie is its tender, flaky crust filled with a sweet filling that reminds you of when you had a much faster metabolism. When I go out on road trips, a short stop at a McD's for their fried apple pies is not unusual for me. It is a treat that I enjoyed in my teens and 20s, and still enjoy today. This recipe only uses natural ingredients. If you were mass producing these, I can see how you could sacrifice quality of taste with cheaper substitutes, like vegetable shortening instead of butter. I also didn't deep fry these in an unholy oil like canola or corn oil. Rather, I pan fried them in a cast iron skillet with olive oil. Sure, lots of people will tell you that olive oil is better used raw and not on high heat. But aside from butter, I don't have other oils in my pantry to use for frying other than EVOO.
I used gala apples for this since I only stock the fridge with eating apples (vs canning, pie, cider types of apples). If you use a more tart apple like a Cortland or Granny Smith, you may want to up the sugar content in the filling.
Dough Ingredients (for 8 pies)
1 1/2 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 c. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Up to 1/2 c. cold water
Filling Ingredients
2 apples, any variety, peeled/cored/chopped into small pieces
1/4 c. unbleached granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 c. water
1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water (mixed in a small, separate bowl)
Directions
For the dough: Combine flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Use a pastry blender and cut the butter into the flour until coarse crumbs form. Gradually add the cold water while mixing to form a more cohesive dough. Mix by hand until the dough comes together into a ball easily. Let it the dough rest in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Cut the dough ball into four equal pieces. Each quarter piece will be divided into two equal pieces. The remaining piece should be rolled out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8" thickness, forming either a square, a rectangle, a circle, or oval. Look, I don't care what shape your pies are in. Mine took on an almost Hostess fruit pie look (half moon arc). Cookie cutters could be used, but I don't have any that are large enough for this purpose.
Put about 1-2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of the rolled-out dough. Fold in half and seal the edges by lightly damping the interior edges with water. Use the tines of a fork to "seal" the edges. The last thing you want is the filling to ooze out of the pie while it is frying.
For the filling: In a 1-quart saucepan, combine water, sugar, salt, and apples. Cook until softened, about 10-15 minutes on medium heat. You'll notice that as the apples release liquid, there is more water than you had expected and it is very runny. Continue to cook over low-medium heat until the water has reduced by half.
In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with one tablespoon of cold water and mix well. While the apple filling is cooking on the stove (after the water has been reduced), add the cornstarch liquid and stir the filling. It should thicken up nicely and be ready for pie assembly.
Let filling cool completely (say, put it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes) before adding to the dough.
Frying: It depends on how much more unhealthy you want to make this recipe. I started with 2 tbsp of EVOO in the frying pan for every two pies fried. Fry each pie for a few minutes on each side until the dough is of a dark golden brown color. When done, place pies on a paper towel-lined plate and serve.
For deep frying, you need a lot more vegetable oil (in a medium pot, this would be about 3-4 inches of oil), a deep pot capable of accommodating your pies or a deep fryer, and a thermometer used for measuring oil temp (oil temp needs to be at 350 degrees F). Fry for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
One last note about oil used for deep frying. The oil takes on the scent and flavor of whatever was last fried in it. So, don't be using that oil used for deep frying breaded shrimp because your apple pies, while they'll taste like apple pies, will also have a distinct shrimpy flavor as well.
I used gala apples for this since I only stock the fridge with eating apples (vs canning, pie, cider types of apples). If you use a more tart apple like a Cortland or Granny Smith, you may want to up the sugar content in the filling.
Dough Ingredients (for 8 pies)
1 1/2 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 c. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Up to 1/2 c. cold water
Filling Ingredients
2 apples, any variety, peeled/cored/chopped into small pieces
1/4 c. unbleached granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 c. water
1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water (mixed in a small, separate bowl)
Directions
For the dough: Combine flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Use a pastry blender and cut the butter into the flour until coarse crumbs form. Gradually add the cold water while mixing to form a more cohesive dough. Mix by hand until the dough comes together into a ball easily. Let it the dough rest in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Cut the dough ball into four equal pieces. Each quarter piece will be divided into two equal pieces. The remaining piece should be rolled out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8" thickness, forming either a square, a rectangle, a circle, or oval. Look, I don't care what shape your pies are in. Mine took on an almost Hostess fruit pie look (half moon arc). Cookie cutters could be used, but I don't have any that are large enough for this purpose.
Put about 1-2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of the rolled-out dough. Fold in half and seal the edges by lightly damping the interior edges with water. Use the tines of a fork to "seal" the edges. The last thing you want is the filling to ooze out of the pie while it is frying.
For the filling: In a 1-quart saucepan, combine water, sugar, salt, and apples. Cook until softened, about 10-15 minutes on medium heat. You'll notice that as the apples release liquid, there is more water than you had expected and it is very runny. Continue to cook over low-medium heat until the water has reduced by half.
In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with one tablespoon of cold water and mix well. While the apple filling is cooking on the stove (after the water has been reduced), add the cornstarch liquid and stir the filling. It should thicken up nicely and be ready for pie assembly.
Let filling cool completely (say, put it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes) before adding to the dough.
Frying: It depends on how much more unhealthy you want to make this recipe. I started with 2 tbsp of EVOO in the frying pan for every two pies fried. Fry each pie for a few minutes on each side until the dough is of a dark golden brown color. When done, place pies on a paper towel-lined plate and serve.
For deep frying, you need a lot more vegetable oil (in a medium pot, this would be about 3-4 inches of oil), a deep pot capable of accommodating your pies or a deep fryer, and a thermometer used for measuring oil temp (oil temp needs to be at 350 degrees F). Fry for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
One last note about oil used for deep frying. The oil takes on the scent and flavor of whatever was last fried in it. So, don't be using that oil used for deep frying breaded shrimp because your apple pies, while they'll taste like apple pies, will also have a distinct shrimpy flavor as well.
Oven Baked Pan Cake
When I was a child, my dad used to make this sweet breakfast item in a large square cast-iron skillet on the stove. When I got much older, I asked him for the recipe. Apparently it was one that he created after much trial and error, and had forgotten over the years. I was told that I had to recreate it by the same method, trial and error. As for the size of the cast iron pan, I used an 8" and given how much one side of the batter rose while baking, it's probably be better in a 10" or larger pan. This is my first run at remaking a childhood memory.
The recipe's ingredients and baking process is remarkably similar to German Apple Pancake, Oven Fried Pancake, Baked Peach Pancake, Yorkshire Pudding (minus the drippings of roast beef), or a Dutch Baby. I imagine that this recipe has gone through hundreds of iterations across different countries and generations. Here is my rendition of it.
Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 c. whole milk
3/4 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
pinch of salt
2 tbsp unbleached granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and while it is heating up, place clean cast iron pan in oven.
1. In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar.
2. Whisk eggs and milk together (1-2 minutes) by hand or with an electric mixer. Gradually whisk in flour mixture.
3. When the oven reaches the baking temp, take skillet out and put in butter pieces. The butter melts pretty quickly, so use a spoon to coat the sides of the pan with butter. This'll make it easier for the cake to slide out after baking.
4. Pour in batter and bake for 25 minutes. It should be lightly golden colored on top when done.
5. Remove from oven and slide cake out onto a plate. Cut into slices and serve with a fruit compote, eat it plain, with freshly sliced fruit, or bacon.
The recipe's ingredients and baking process is remarkably similar to German Apple Pancake, Oven Fried Pancake, Baked Peach Pancake, Yorkshire Pudding (minus the drippings of roast beef), or a Dutch Baby. I imagine that this recipe has gone through hundreds of iterations across different countries and generations. Here is my rendition of it.
 |
| Despite how it looks, it is really good. |
Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 c. whole milk
3/4 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
pinch of salt
2 tbsp unbleached granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and while it is heating up, place clean cast iron pan in oven.
1. In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar.
2. Whisk eggs and milk together (1-2 minutes) by hand or with an electric mixer. Gradually whisk in flour mixture.
3. When the oven reaches the baking temp, take skillet out and put in butter pieces. The butter melts pretty quickly, so use a spoon to coat the sides of the pan with butter. This'll make it easier for the cake to slide out after baking.
4. Pour in batter and bake for 25 minutes. It should be lightly golden colored on top when done.
5. Remove from oven and slide cake out onto a plate. Cut into slices and serve with a fruit compote, eat it plain, with freshly sliced fruit, or bacon.
Butterscotch Pudding
This is a sweet use for those leftover egg yolks from the macaroon recipe. Maybe I ate too many pre-packaged butterscotch pudding cups in my younger years, and without that annato colorant
, my butterscotch pudding just didn't come out as dark burnt orange as manufacturers would like you to believe this pudding is colored. I also used light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar because it's what I had on hand. The pudding came out lumpier than I thought it would even though I put it through a fine mesh sieve before refrigeration. An electric hand mixer with a balloon whisk might have removed the lumps a bit better.
Ingredients
3 c. whole milk
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/8 tsp sea salt
4 large egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Directions
1. In a large heatproof bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks. Then whisk in 1/2 cup of milk until combined.
2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat remaining 2.5 cups of milk until it comes to a boil. Turn off heat.
3. A soup ladle at a time, add the heated milk to the egg mixture while whisking. This will gradually bring the heat up in the egg mixture and the eggs won't curdle. Whisk to incorporate the remaining heated milk.
If the eggs curdle, you're better off scrapping the entire recipe or making french toast out of the remaining ingredients because curdled egg pudding does not taste all that good. Yes, I have done this before and it tastes very eggy.
4. Transfer the milk-egg mixture into a clean heavy-bottomed pan. I used the same pan that milk was cooked in, except I washed it first. Well, I only have one pan that can do this. Cook on low-medium heat, whisking constantly, until the pudding reaches a consistency akin to mayonnaise. Remove from heat.
5. Whisk in unsalted butter until melted and combined. Whisk in vanilla extract.
6. (optional) If lumps formed while cooking, pour pudding through a fine mesh strainer
.
7. Put pudding into one large glass serving bowl, smaller serving bowls, or into dessert cups and cover pudding surface with plastic wrap if you don't want a skin to form on the top. The pudding can be eaten warm or chilled.
, my butterscotch pudding just didn't come out as dark burnt orange as manufacturers would like you to believe this pudding is colored. I also used light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar because it's what I had on hand. The pudding came out lumpier than I thought it would even though I put it through a fine mesh sieve before refrigeration. An electric hand mixer with a balloon whisk might have removed the lumps a bit better.Ingredients
3 c. whole milk
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/8 tsp sea salt
4 large egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Directions
1. In a large heatproof bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks. Then whisk in 1/2 cup of milk until combined.
2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat remaining 2.5 cups of milk until it comes to a boil. Turn off heat.
3. A soup ladle at a time, add the heated milk to the egg mixture while whisking. This will gradually bring the heat up in the egg mixture and the eggs won't curdle. Whisk to incorporate the remaining heated milk.
If the eggs curdle, you're better off scrapping the entire recipe or making french toast out of the remaining ingredients because curdled egg pudding does not taste all that good. Yes, I have done this before and it tastes very eggy.
4. Transfer the milk-egg mixture into a clean heavy-bottomed pan. I used the same pan that milk was cooked in, except I washed it first. Well, I only have one pan that can do this. Cook on low-medium heat, whisking constantly, until the pudding reaches a consistency akin to mayonnaise. Remove from heat.
5. Whisk in unsalted butter until melted and combined. Whisk in vanilla extract.
6. (optional) If lumps formed while cooking, pour pudding through a fine mesh strainer
.7. Put pudding into one large glass serving bowl, smaller serving bowls, or into dessert cups and cover pudding surface with plastic wrap if you don't want a skin to form on the top. The pudding can be eaten warm or chilled.
Almond Pudding with Coconut
I thought I was being terribly clever by using the uneaten coconut macaroons as a crust for the bottom of this pudding. Alas, the principles of physics were working against me. I really thought that a heavy "cookie" would stay at the bottom, but alas, the broken bits of the macaroons started floating everywhere in the thickened pudding when I poured it into a glass serving bowl.
You'll note that the ingredient ratio is awfully similar to the quick and easy stovetop method for making vanilla pudding. That is because the only ingredient swapped out is the extract, using almond extract instead of vanilla extract. Maybe the recipe's title really should be Coconut Almond Pudding. Even that is a misnomer since there are no almonds in the dessert and there is, by weight, more coconut than almond extract in it.
Ingredients
2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. unbleached granuated sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp unsalted butter
6 coconut macaroons, crumbled
Directions
1. In a pot, bring milk to a near simmer over medium heat where bubbles start to form at the edges.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Gradually add dry ingredients to the milk and whisk to keep clumps from forming.
3. Cook pudding until it has thickened. It should be able to coat the back of a spoon and not drip off that quickly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and almond extract.
4. Add crumbled coconut macaroons to the bottom of a serving dish (I used a 1-qt glass serving bowl for this). Pour pudding on top. Let cool in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
The pudding by itself tastes like I had imagined it to taste like.. a milk-based pudding with the flavor of almond. It'll be interesting when the pudding has cooled to see what the addition of another dessert component tastes like.
You'll note that the ingredient ratio is awfully similar to the quick and easy stovetop method for making vanilla pudding. That is because the only ingredient swapped out is the extract, using almond extract instead of vanilla extract. Maybe the recipe's title really should be Coconut Almond Pudding. Even that is a misnomer since there are no almonds in the dessert and there is, by weight, more coconut than almond extract in it.
Ingredients
2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. unbleached granuated sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp unsalted butter
6 coconut macaroons, crumbled
Directions
1. In a pot, bring milk to a near simmer over medium heat where bubbles start to form at the edges.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Gradually add dry ingredients to the milk and whisk to keep clumps from forming.
3. Cook pudding until it has thickened. It should be able to coat the back of a spoon and not drip off that quickly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and almond extract.
4. Add crumbled coconut macaroons to the bottom of a serving dish (I used a 1-qt glass serving bowl for this). Pour pudding on top. Let cool in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
The pudding by itself tastes like I had imagined it to taste like.. a milk-based pudding with the flavor of almond. It'll be interesting when the pudding has cooled to see what the addition of another dessert component tastes like.
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