Recipes

 Stick with me on this one, it is pretty weird.  

I had some Chinese food left-overs I was about to compost.  They were 2 days old and the rice was kinda dried out - however,  I was hungry and we were short on food.  As all creative cooks know this is a "recipe" for innovation.

What I came up with turned out to be easy and super delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 half-eaten lunch size portions of Chinese food (in my case broccoli beef on fried rice and garlic spinach on white rice)
• 2 eggs
• soy sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 300 ° F.  Place oven-safe bowl of water in lower rack.

Throw all ingredients into a food proccessor until blended thoroughly.  Transfer batter into oiled muffin tin.  

Bake for 45 min to an hour.  Dumplings are done when a chopstick can be inserted and pulled out clean.

They were so good I ate 3 right away!

 I just made the best chicken.  Oh my, so tender!

I love pickled herring, but I don't like to eat the onions.  I took the left over onions in brine and marinated 2 chicken legs and a thigh with some other stuff and bingo... delicious.  Here is the recipe:

• brine and onions from a jar (or two) of pickled herring.
• 3 tbsp white wine vinigar
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 clove garlic (smashed and diced)
• sprinkle of paprika
• salt and pepper to taste (please don't taste the raw chicken)
• pat of butter (save for when the chicken is hot)

Let the chicken soak in the marinade for at least a couple hours inside the refrigerator.

Bake in the oven skin down for 30 min at 350°F.

Turn chicken skin side up and melt a bit of butter on top.  Bake for 30 min at 375° F or until juices run clear.

I think the vinagar make the chicken extra tender and juicy.

 If you love baking bread but can't eat it fast enough - this is a fabulous recipe to make the bread keep for long periods of time without losing flavor.

1. Preheat oven to 350° F
2. Slice the stale bread into thin slices.
3. Slice the stack of slices into strips or squares.
4. Place the strips/squares of bread onto a baking sheet.
5. Brush with olive oil.
6. Sprinkle with salt, paprika, and tumeric.
7. Bake for 30 min.

That is it!  I get crazy compliments from this simple recipe.  Serve with hummus, cream cheese, soup, or anything that goes good with crackers.

 This is a more European style sourdough - dense and flavor-rich.  It takes a couple days.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Bulgar wheat
• 2 cup water (90°F-110°F)
• 1 cup starter
• 2 cup wheat flour
• 2 cup bread flour
• ½ cup oat bran
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp salt

First day:

1. Soak the bulgar wheat in 1 cup of luke warm water for about 20 min in a big bowl.
2. Add the starter, 1 more cup of luke warm water, and 2 cups wheat flour - stir thoroughly.
3. Cover with cheese cloth and place somewhere warm.

Second day (8-12 hours later):

1. Stir in oat bran, salt, and olive oil.
2. Slowly stir in the bread flour until the dough is too thick for stirring.
3. Knead the dough on a clean dry surface adding flour as needed until the dough is nice and elastic (this will take around 20 min) - it will spring back if you press your thumb in!
4. Clean, dry, and oil the big bowl.
5. Place the dough ball in the oiled bowl and turn it to cover it with oil.
6. Cover with an oiled plastic bag and let rise in a warm place - dough will double in size.

Second day part 2:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
2. Fill small oven safe dish with a cup of water and place in oven - for a humid baking environment.
3. Punch down dough.
4. Knead a bit more and roll into desired loaf form.
5. Place in loaf pan, on cookie sheet, or on pizza stone.
6. Bake for around an hour or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when you thump on it.

This sourdough bread is delicious when served warm with butter and honey!  It stays super delicious for only a day on the counter - refrigerated it will last longer.  It is also extremely filling!

I recommend taking the day-old bread and making melba or crostini!