Ghee Hollandaise

So we were recently gifted some ghee from our friends at gheewell.com and were debating what to do with it beside saute, which is what ghee is excellent for. So I'm was debating doing a Dutch baby, or some caramel sauce or something like scampi and I remember I"m sitting on the last ham steak that I was gifted from a friend who raised his pork from a baby and had it cured and smoked at Taylor's Sausage. So I whipped up a hollandaise sauce, which ghee is perfect for, and roasted up that ham steak, toasted up some rye bread, and fried an egg sunny side up to top this off and away we went.

Got some Cro-Mags to go with this because we scored tickets to see the Misfits (with the surviving original line-up, including Glen), Rancid, Cro-Mags, and The Damned. So we've been listening to a lot of the old school punk from our youth.

Ghee Hollandaise
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 4 people

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• 8 tbs liquid(melted) ghee

This recipe is really simple. Separate four egg yolks from their whites. Add those to your blender. Juice one lemon and separate one tbsp juice to add to blender. Add more if you prefer a more tart or sour hollandaise. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne. Blend on medium high. Drizzle in melted ghee slowly until hollandaise is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Drizzle on food and thoroughly enjoy.

Some notes: we frequently alter this recipe to make it exotic or different. This time I added powdered chipotle and some yellow curry. The wife has often substituted lime for lemon and added cilantro for a Mexican twist. Do you.

Cranberry Pecan Marshmallow Treats

Sometimes you just need something a little sweet.

I went with some of my favourite folk punk - Defiance, Ohio doing "Condition 11:11".  When I see the clock say that time, all I can sing in my head is, "At 11:11 every night I make wishes..."  And I see the clock say 11:11 a lot.  -jen

CRANBERRY PECAN MARSHMALLOW TREATS
Time:  10 minutes 
Difficulty:  Super Easy
Makes:  9-16, depending on how big you cut 'em

• 3 tablespoons butter, plus a little extra
• 6 cups plain corn flakes*
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries 
• 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
• 4 cups mini marshmallows

Lightly butter a 2-quart (8"x8") baking dish with the extra butter.

In a large bowl, combine corn flakes, cranberries and pecans.  Set aside.

In a medium sauce pan over low heat, melt 3 tablespoons of butter.  Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted and combined.

Pour over corn flake mix and mix well.  (Do this part quickly!)

Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and using a spatula or your hand, press mixture firmly into pan.

Let cool.  Cut and serve.  You can place them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to help speed up the cooling process.

For storage, I like to wrap them individually in plastic wrap and then put them all in a ziplock.  Keeps the from getting stale.

*I used a name brand that comes with little honey and oat granola clusters, the kind you love "bunches"... but being pre-sweetened, it made the squares a little on the uber sweet side.

Cheddar Dill Scones

So this is an old recipe from several years back that I make every so often and realized that we hadn't yet shared.  I know scones aren't on everybody's list of "Stuff To Eat Whenever Possible" but these scones will be!  I have had some scones in my day that were awfully bland and much more akin to the offspring that would be produced by a hockey puck mating with a biscuit.  This is not okay.  Scones should be light, flaky, buttery, and generally awesome.  So I set out to make a good one and after tweaking a couple recipes to get the desired result, I have come up with this.

I like dill and cheddar but you could substitute any cheese and herb combo that you may desire.  Fennel and Havarti or Gruyere and basil or whatever you like.  Or leave out the cheese and herbs and toss in some fruit like blueberries or raspberries.

Since scones make me think of stuffy old British folk taking tea and how awfully boring that must be, I decided to rock out with someone Brits who may take their scones with some whiskey and a side of mayhem and blasted some Siouxsie & The Banshees.  I definitely like their earlier stuff so I went with a classic of theirs from 1977 "Bad Shape".  - justin

CHEDDAR DILL SCONES
Time: 35 min
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: As large or small as you want to make them but about 15

• 4 cups + 1/4 cup (to flour a rolling surface) of flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 3/4 lb cold, unsalted butter, diced into cubes (the butter must be refrigerated until final mixing or the scones will be small and dense)
• 4 extra large eggs, beaten lightly
• 1 cup cold heavy cream or half-and-half
• 1/2 lb extra sharp yellow cheddar, grated
• 1 cup fresh dill, minced fine
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water or milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Dice butter into cubes and put back in fridge for later use.  Add the 4 cups flour, the baking powder, and the salt to a large bowl and mix.  Take the butter cubes out of the fridge and add them to the flour mixture all at once and incorporate them with either a stand mixer or hand mixer/egg beaters until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.  Add the grated cheese and chopped dill and incorporate quickly.  Combine the eggs and heavy cream in a small bowl and mix them into the butter and flour mixture until it just holds together.  Do not over mix!  The scones will turn out like a hockey puck mated with a biscuit!  Again: Do not over mix!  Less is better!  If you aren't sure if you are over mixing, you are probably over mixing! 

Pour the dough out onto a surface dusted with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and roll out into a rectangle 1 inch thick.  Cut into 4 inch squares and then in half diagonally to form triangles.  Mix the 1 egg and water/milk to make an egg wash and brush it on top of the scones.  Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with non-stick spray for 20 to 25 minutes or until the outside is a nice crusty brown and the inside is fully cooked.  Guess you'll just have to try one to see if they are!

Chicken Piccata

One of my favorite dishes from my youth.  My mother didn't, nor did anyone else in my family, cook anything piccata but one of the jobs I had for a couple years in high school was as a waiter and they had veal piccata on the menu.  I used to get it quite regularly and as I've gotten older I've done fish piccata every so often when I get the craving for that butter fat, lemon, white wine tanginess.

The dish is pretty simple and versatile so, as I stated before, you can use pork, veal, chicken, or fish for this recipe as piccata refers to a style of preparation as opposed to a specific protein or sauce.  Pounded, breaded, fried, and served in sauce.  I generally use snapper or sole when I do fish and have done pounded out pork tenderloin steaks as well so mix it up if you like.

And to accompany this delicious dish I went with a classic song from a classic punk group who I'm shocked to say, has not yet been featured in a recipe of ours.  These guys are also a flashback from my youth because it was my high school days when I first heard Agnostic Front and it may very well have been this song, "Gotta Go".  I know it was one of the first that I'd heard from them so it's fitting that I go all the way back to sophomore or junior year. - justin

CHICKEN PICCATA
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: medium
Servings: 3-4

• 3-4 chicken thighs, deboned, skin removed, cut in half
• 1cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp butter divided into 2 tbsp halves
• 1 cup onions, minced
• 2 tbsp capers
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1/2 cup white wine

Preheat oven to 350.

Pat your thighs dry with some paper towels.  Toss your flour and panko in a gallon zip lock bag, along with some salt & pepper to season it up.  Beat your egg and water together to make a little egg wash.  Dredge your half thighs in the egg wash and toss inthe flour and bread crumbs to coat.  Set aside until all are done.  allow them to sit while you heat a large skillet to medium high heat and add your olive oil and 2 tbsp of the butter.

Brown the chicken on both sides until the breading starts to crisp up.  Place the thighs on a sheet pan in the oven for 10 minutes to finish them up.

While the chicken is in the oven, toss the onions in the skillet with all the drippings from the chicken.  After 5 minutes or so, when the onions should be translucent, add the lemon juice, the white wine, and the capers.  Simmer for about five minutes and when the chicken is done add the last 2 tbsp of butter to the sauce and stir it in as it melts.  When the butter is all incorporated, serve the chicken and drizzle the sauce all over the servings.

Accordion Potatoes

We started out the new year with a great brunch with new friends (new for me, anyway).  I'd been wanting to try my hand at some sliced baked potatoes because I had a ton of different ideas for them.  Our friend Mike had made some a while back, showing us pictures - they looked great!  Then we saw some made on television and decided we had to make them.  Today presented a perfect opportunity, as we were hosting brunch and needed something to go with the Greek frittata that Justin was making. 

I'm not a huge fan of potatoes - baked, mashed, scalloped.  It's not that I dislike them, they just don't do a whole lot for me.  Until... today.  These potatoes were so freaking bomb ass, I ate two servings at brunch, and went back for a half of a potato for a snack.  I want to make more right now... we just don't have any potatoes left.

C'mon.  Irish.  Accordion.  Potatoes.  This was a total no brainer for music.  Flogging Molly's "Drunken Lullabies".  I love these guys.  -jen

ACCORDION POTATOES

• 3 large baking potatoes
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 2 teaspoons dried dill
• 1-2 lemons, sliced super thin
• 1-2 shallots, sliced super thin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Scrub outside of potatoes clean.  Lay potato on cutting board and slice into 1/8-1/4" slices, not slicing through the bottom of the potato.  You can use two wooden spoons on either side of the potato as a bumper to stop you from cutting through it like in this photo.

Drizzle all but a teaspoon or two of the melted butter over entire top of potato, using your fingers to separate the pieces and get butter down into the crevices.  Sprinkle seasoning salt and dill over potatoes, separating pieces again to make sure seasoning gets into all the slots.

Squeeze sliced lemon and shallots, alternating, in between the potato slices.  Brush the tops of the potatoes with the remaining butter.  Place on a baking sheet and bake for 60-80 minutes, until potato is tender.  (Timing depends on how large your potatoes are.  Test a middle piece with a fork - if it slides in easily, it's done.)


Remove and serve.  Don't forget to pull out the lemon wedges if you're not into eating lemon rind.

You could really season the potatoes with anything you wanted.  I actually used Penzey's Forward spice mix, some salt, and the dill.  Next time I'd like to use one of our chile-based spice rubs we make, and sprinkle some shredded cheese on during the last 10-15 minutes.

Coffee Toffee

I'm not much of a candy fan, but I do love English toffee.  Started making it when Justin and I first lived together, but that was about 6 years ago and I haven't made much since.  Until yesterday.  We had picked up some coffee toffee made locally and it was black, which was awesome!  Tasted great too, but it was expensive!  Like $2.50 for three tiny little pieces.  Knowing I could make toffee, I decided to try my hand at my own coffee toffee.  It came out great (though not black).  I'm still going to experiment; I don't know why I need it to be black, but I so want it to be black!  This recipe only has ground beans in it, which like I said, is delicious... but I'm thinking if I put a tablespoon or two of espresso in it when cooking... it might come out black.

This song is a little throw back and I had to be cheesy and use it.  More new wave than punk, I suppose.  They used to play the video on MTV all the time in the early/mid 80s, and I was like six or seven years old when I decided I wanted Annabella Lwin's shaved hair style!  Actually, I think I have had that hair style, only with dreads!  Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy".  -jen

COFFEE TOFFEE 
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 5-7 minutes
Level: Super easy!
Special Tools:  Candy/Oil thermometer
Note:  Be very careful making this.  The melted butter/sugar can burn you badly and it sticks like a mofo!

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter + some for pan
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup (though I've made it without this too)
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons finely ground coffee beans
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  (If you don't have parchment paper, you can just generously butter the baking sheet.  The bottom of your toffee will be a little buttery but it'll still be tasty!)

In a large 2-quart saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter, sugar, corn syrup, salt and ground coffee beans.  Using a wooden spoon, stir over medium-high heat, bringing candy temperature to 300 degrees F (hard crack stage).  Immediately remove pan from heat, quickly stir in vanilla, and spread onto parchment paper lined pan.  Sprinkle pecans over the top quickly while toffee is still hot and allow to cool for about 20 minutes.  Flex the pan a little and candy should release. 

If you're not a fan of coffee, you can leave it out and just make plain English toffee!  Sometimes I sprinkle a little course salt over the top of the toffee for that "salted caramel" flavour.  Another option is chocolate.  Instead of sprinkling pecans on it immediately after pouring it out, you could sprinkle chocolate chips or shaved chocolate across the top.  The residual heat will melt it after a few minutes and you can spread it smooth across the top.

Made this one with pecans, salt and milk chocolate drizzle.  Left the coffee beans out.