Boys of Cooking

Author: lobstah

  • Hamentaschen Honey Dough

    In a mixer, combine: 4 cups flour, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder in bowl of mixer. Add ½ cup softened shortening, 4 eggs and 1 cup honey. Combine until smooth. You may need to add up to ¾ cup additional flour to get the dough to a good consistency: think cookie dough… that’s…

  • Fluden

    Make Hamentaschen Honey Dough. Roll into a ⅛-inch layer large enough to cover bottom and go up sides of pan; trim off all but ⅜ inch that hangs beyond edge of pan. (You can use a 13×9 or 9×9 pan, depending on how much you want to make.) Spread a layer of filling on the…

  • Prune Filling

    Not too sweet, this fruity filling is intended for Hamentascen or Fluden but can be used in other desserts.

  • Polenta with Fried Egg

    Place ½ cup Quaker corn meal (I prefer this because of the way it’s ground), 2 cups water and ½ tsp salt in a saucepan. Stir continuously until it comes to a boil. Lower heat to lowest setting and cover; let cook for 5 minutes. Add ½ TBL butter and ¼ cup grated cheese, such…

  • Andouille Sausage with Black-Eyed Peas

    In a 6-quart (or larger) pressure cooker, heat 1+ TBL oil. (Don’t use less, as it keeps the beans from foaming and causing problems later on.) Saute 1 medium onion, diced, until soft. Add 1 cup dry, rinsed black-eyed peas, 1 minced stalk celery, 1 diced large red pepper, 1 minced jalapeno pepper, 1 minced…

  • Root Soup

    This started out as potato soup originally, and it’s morphed into a much more interesting dish. Peel and cut up 2-4 potatoes, 4-5 parsley roots, 3 carrots and 2 leeks. place in pot and cover with water. Add 2 tsp salt and bring to a boil; reduce to a strong simmer. Skim any starchy foam…

  • Mascarpone Rice Pudding

    Leftovers with leftovers. Combine 2 cups of cooked rice and about 1 cup of milk. Heat in high-power microwave for 5 minutes: the rice will be softened and the milk will have come to a boil. Put it in the refrigerator until it’s cooled. (I was impatient and I transferred the mixture to a metal…

  • Candied Pomelo Peel

    This is sweet from the honey, but retains a nice bitter edge. It’s simple and delicious. And it’s really fast to make. Pomelos usually show up in the market at the height of winter. They look like really big grapefruit, sometimes having a slight pear-like shape. Skins range from yellow to yellow-green. Find a pomelo…

  • Preserved Lemons

    Cut 6 Meyer lemons as follows: quarter them (almost) going from just below one end almost down to the other. The lemon will remain intact, but if you squeeze it by pressing the two ends towards each other, some juice will ooze out and the segments will be accessible. Using ¼ cup kosher salt total,…

  • Fruit Crumble

    Combine ⅓ cup walnuts, ⅓ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 cup oatmeal, ½ tsp salt, ¾ tsp baking powder and ¼ cup (½ stick) butter. Mix until it’s crumbly. Peel and cut up 4 cups of fresh fruit (peaches, apples, pears or whatever you like). Mix with ½ cup sugar, 1 tsp lemon…

  • Celery Root Saute

    Peel 2 celery roots, trimming as needed to clean. Slice thinly across the root to make even slices and then cut these cross-wise to make julienne. (The safe way to do this is to cut the root lengthwise and then work with each half to make the thin slices.) Set the julienne aside. Despite what…

  • Fennel-Mussel Soup

    Wash off and debeard 2 pounds of mussels, discarding any dead ones. While wet, put them in a covered pot and cook on medium-high heat until they have opened; discard any that remain closed. Remove meat from all but 12 of the mussels, reserving the meat and the 12 fully-intact mussels. Strain liquid through a…

  • Magret de Canard

    Magret de Canard

    Score the skin side in ½-inch diamonds, only cutting into the fat layer and not into the meat. Make a mixture of 1 tsp kosher salt and ½ tsp ground black or green pepper. Rub the generously all over the magret. Preheat the oven to 450º F and as it nears the desired temperature heat…

  • Anise Cornmeal Fingers

    Anise Cornmeal Fingers

    Cream 1½ sticks butter until soft. Add 1 TBL Pernod, ½ tsp ground white pepper, 1 TBL fennel seeds (ground after measuring), ¼ tsp salt. Add ¾ cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs, 1 egg white. When mixed, add 1¾ cups flour and ⅔ cup cornmeal, blending just until mixed in. By hand, mix in grated…

  • Clam Soup

    Heat some oil in a large pot. Add 2 TBL finely minced garlic. Cook briefly, add 6 anchovies, mashing them as they cook. Add 1 cup white wine, 4 cups canned tomatoes with paste/pulp, 2 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp dried basil, ½ cup chopped parsley (fresh), 1 tsp dried red pepper flakes. Taste it…

  • Yellow Tomato Soup

    Puree 1 lb peeled, seeded yellow tomatoes with 1 TBL olive oil. (I was short on yellow so I added one red one: the soup is still a rich yellow.) This will make about 3 cups of juice. Add ¾ cup chicken stock. Strain through a coarse strainer to capture any seeds. To the puree…

  • Lemon Whipped Cream

    Whipped cream flavored with tangy lemon curd. Great on a warm summer day over your dessert! This is the recommended filling for the Lemon Cloud Cake.

  • Lemon Cloud Cake

    Lemon Cloud Cake

    A delightful lemony cake, great for a celebration. The filling is whipped cream flavored with lemon curd, but you can probably try other citrus flavors.

  • Maple Ice Cream

    Put 2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup milk, ½ cup Grade B maple syrup and a pinch of salt in a sauce pan. Add either 1½ tsp vanilla extract or 1 whole vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped into mixture. Include the pod in the mixture, too. Heat until steaming, but do not let…

  • Cherry Pie

    Cherry Pie

    Preheat oven to 425º F. Pit 1 quart sour cherries (I prefer Montmorency cherries for their bright color) If you are measuring out frozen cherries, use about 4½ cups to be sure you have enough to fill the crust, as the frozen cherries seem to settle a bit more and will also give off a…

  • Ice-Box Cake

    Make whipped cream using 2 cups heavy cream, 2 – 3 TBL confectioners’ sugar and 1 – 2 tsp vanilla. Spread ½ TBL whipped cream on each cookie in a box of Famous Chocolate wafers, building up a stack. Arrange two 7-inch stacks next to each other (on their sides) on a plate to form…

  • Grilled Swordfish

    Easy as can be. Get a 1-inch thick swordfish steak. Let it come to room temperature and season lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper. Get the grill hot (400º F), and grill for about 5 to 6 minutes per side. I prefer charcoal but it works just fine on a gas grill.

  • Corn-Crusted Soft-Shell Crabs

    In a pie plate, beat together 1 egg, ½ cup milk and some salt. Put some very fine (Indian Head brand) corn meal in another pie plate and mix with some ground pepper. Dip each cleaned soft-shell crab in the egg mixture, let drain a bit and dredge in the corn meal (on both sides).…

  • Sauteed Fennel with Pernod

    Trim fennel bulb, cutting off bottom end of bulb. Slice vertically into thin slices. Saute in olive oil on high heat. Let brown, but not burn. You may want to cover it to accelerate the cooking. Toss in some Pernod, stir quickly and serve hot.