Heather says:

Welcome to the Fearless Friday that almost wasn’t. I’ve been under the weather and limited to soups and very soft foods. Being the masochist I am, I’ve also been paging through and drooling over my cookbooks waiting for the day I can manage them. Thursday’s dinner prep rolled around and as I stood there, I realized I had given absolutely no thought to this week’s Fearless Friday.

I looked around the kitchen somewhat desperately, trying to find a balance between something I had the energy to try and the ability to eat. Since I’ve been trying to focus on seasonal cooking my eyes landed on the rutabaga lurking on my counter. Perfect, I thought.

Fearless Fridays are a weekly event where readers of this site share their culinary adventures. For some, it’s simply the act of preparing a meal in their home instead of hitting the drive through. For others it’s trying new foods, recipes, or techniques. It’s a chance to push against our boundaries and maybe discover new favorites. Not every attempt will be successful  but everyone is encouraged to share, if you have a blog post a link to your post below, if you have a Flickr account share a picture, and if you have neither? Just share in the comments.

What do you do with a rutabaga?

I had planned roasting this rutabaga with turnips and carrots. Instead I decided to try mashing it. It was ridiculously easy. Cut off both the top and root, then use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the waxy outer layer. Cut the vegetable into equal size pieces and steam, either in a steamer or in a pot with an inch or so of water.

Steam until tender, I was distracted, but I think it took 30 minutes.

At first, I tried to use a pastry blender to mash the steamed rutabaga, but I quickly gave up and broke out my immersion blender. Rutabaga is not as starchy as potatoes and even using a stick blender, it did not become gluey. Since I had never used rutabaga before, I simply added butter, salt, and fresh ground pepper.

The results?

Delicious.

The mashed rutabaga is slightly sweeter than a mashed potato, but not as sweet as a squash. It has a faint “root” like taste, I don’t know how to describe it, other than it reminds me of the smell of pulling weeds in the summer.

Before experimenting, I wanted to try it plain, I wanted a feel for the vegetable with the silly name. In the future, I’ll steam it with stock, either chicken or vegetable and I’ll add herbs that complement the main dish. I’ll experiment with adding a splash of milk or cream, as I do with mashed potatoes, but mostly I’ll just be sure this previously ignored vegetable becomes a part of our diet.

What did you do for Fearless Friday?

Heather says:

These collards have a kick! They are peppery and wonderful, something I never thought would be possible without sausage or bacon, but as of last night I know it can be done. This recipe is adapted from the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, a birthday gift from last year. Their version is called Sneaky Collards and is written for fresh greens. Some occasions, such as  New Years or on a chilly afternoon with chicken bog already working, I’m quite willing to wrestle with fresh collards. Other days, busier days, I quite happily use frozen. That’s sacrilege to some, but hang tight and see what happens before turning up your nose.

This recipe yields 8 – 10 servings, leftovers would be absolutely amazing stirred into a soup near the end of cooking or added to a pot of beans and rice. Well, if you have any leftovers that is. . .

• 2 lbs frozen collard greens
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 TBSP crushed red pepper (I cut it in half from my experiment)
• 1 tsp salt + more to taste at the end
• 1 onion
• 1 tomato
• 4 cloves of garlic, still in the papery peel (added to make up for the reduction in pepper)
• 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 1 TBSP red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Kitchen equipment needed:

• stove
• 1 heavy pot
• 1 heavy skillet or baking sheet
• oven / broiler
• blender or stick/immersion blender
• knife / cutting board

In a large pot, heat the water, salt, and crushed red pepper. Bring it to a boil, then turn it to low.  Cover and ignore for 10 minutes or so, this isn’t a recipe where exacts matter.  The point of this step is to draw out some of the oils from the pepper.

Cut both ends off the onion, peel it, and cut it into quarters or eighths depending on its size.  Core the tomato and again cut it into quarters or eighths.  How do you know which? If it fits comfortably into the palm of your hand, go with quarters, larger eighths.  Now, the next step depends on your coordination / comfort level and whether you wish to wash a bowl or mop the floor. If you are new to the cooking scene, place the onion, tomato, and garlic cloves in a mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Then, sprinkle with the paprika and ground pepper. Stir to coat, then pour into an oven proof skillet or onto a baking sheet.

If you’re comfortable with your skill level, toss everything in an oven proof skillet. Toss to coat.

Now the comes the magic moment. Turn your broiler to high and place the vegetables about 3″ from the heat source. This is typically the highest rack setting of your oven.

Set a timer for 6 minutes. Take a peek after five minutes.

If it looks like this, you’re getting close, but it needs to go a few more minutes.

When using this technique, it is very important to remember that dark brown equals intense flavor, but black is burnt. Watch your vegetables carefully, it’s totally worth the attention to detail.

While the tomatoes are broiling, add the collards to the peppery water. Bring it back up to a simmer and cover. This needs to cook for at least 20 minutes, but it can go much longer without ruining the greens.

When the tomatoes, onions, and garlic are done. Set the skillet aside until the garlic is cool enough to handle. The cloves should slip right out of their paper, discard the paper. Place the garlic cloves and everything else from the skillet into the blender, be sure to catch as much of the liquid as you can, it carries a lot of flavor. Puree the broiled vegetables until smooth.

Once the collards have cooked for at least twenty minutes, add the puree and stir.

Serve when the rest of the meal is ready.

Enjoy.

Submitted to:

What I Learned This Week

Heather says:

Whenever birthday season rolls around, we like to give the birthday child a few treats of their own choosing, within reason. I do believe my middle child is a budding foodie. The days leading up to his birthday he talked about how he wanted to have apple pancakes for breakfast, something we have never made or even offered. I got to thinking. How could I alter my buttermilk pancakes to create a version apple-y enough for a four-year-old’s palate, but not cloyingly so for the rest of us? As I was mulling over the idea, I realized that this was a perfect Fearless Friday experiment.

Fearless Fridays are an exercise in kitchen bravery. It’s not about grossout games like Fear Factor, rather Fearless Friday is trying to learn a new skill. It’s a time to stop making excuses and try to cook, even if it doesn’t turn out perfectly. It’s serving a vegetarian dish to your meat and potatoes family or taking a walk down the freezer aisle and deciding to try making one of those items on your own. For some, Fearless Friday is cooking a meal instead of eating out. We all have our starting point, the key to becoming successful is to keep going, knowing sometimes we will fail.

I am happy to report that this week’s Fearless Friday was an all-out success. The recipe follows the McKlinky.

If you attempted anything fearless this week, please share your blog post describing your adventure or tell us about it in the comments.

Ready for this week’s fearless recipe?

Apple Cider Pancakes

• 4 TBSP butter, melted
• 2 cups vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup apple cider
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose or plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 large apple – sliced very thin
• Cooking oil- optional

With half an hour to kill, how could I not play around a little?

Just like with the buttermilk pancakes, it’s very helpful to let the liquid ingredients approach room temperature. Measure the yogurt and apple cider and set out the eggs about 30 minutes before you begin the recipe.

When you’re ready to get started, melt the butter. Crack the eggs and beat them just until they are one color. Combine all the liquid ingredients in a large bowl, stirring thoroughly. Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. If you tried the buttermilk pancakes, you may have noticed I omitted the sugar. Both the apple cider and vanilla yogurt bring enough of their own to this recipe.

Pour half the dry ingredients into the large bowl of wet. Whisk or stir briskly until there are no lumps. Carefully add the second half of the flour mixture and gently stir until it is just combined. We’re trying to not disturb the chemical reaction we started with the first half of the dry ingredients.

Begin heating your skillet. If you’re using an electric skillet, I found this recipe needed to be 275F, vs the 300F of the buttermilk pancakes. If you are using a skillet on the stove, you’ll need to be on the lowest setting, but give the pan plenty of time to get hot before adding the first cupful of batter. Don’t forget, if you need to grease your pan, to wipe out all of the excess oil. Pancakes are little sponges and easily get greasy. If you use a nonstick pan that is in good shape, cooking oil is probably not necessary.

While the skillet is heating and the batter is resting – actually the batter is very busy, there’s a reaction between the baking soda, powder and the acids in the yogurt and apple cider- slice your apple. It’s best if the apple is not red delicious or any of the blander varieties. We are huge fans of Gala or Honeycrisp, they have enough tartness to survive heating, but aren’t so tart that they aren’t fun to eat out of hand. If you are doubling or tripling this batch for an event, sprinkle the apples with lemon juice to prevent browning.

When the skillet is hot, pour the batter onto the skillet by 1/3 cup fulls. Place 2 – 3 slices of apples on each pancake and allow them to cook for about 2 minutes each side. Be careful, these are a little harder to turn than the plain buttermilk ones.

Unless you enjoy playing short-order cook for people, keep the finished pancakes in the oven set at 200F. This will keep them at serving temperature until the whole batch has been cooked.

Enjoy!

Heather says:

I used to hate peas. Deep down in my heart I knew the cafeteria ladies despised me each time they plopped a spoonful of wrinkly, mushy peas onto my tray. Thankfully, I have learned that most often it isn’t the original food item I have hated, but simply the manner in which it was prepared. To this day I still turn up my nose at canned peas heated in their own water, but fresh and frozen peas are a treat.

The almonds give a nutty flavor that helps this spring vegetable complement many autumn dishes.

Peas and Almonds

Ingredients:

• 1lb frozen peas
• 1 1/2 TBSP butter
• 1/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds
• salt to taste

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the almonds and stir frequently.

Add almonds

As soon as the almonds begin to lightly brown reduce the heat to low and add the peas.

Time to add the peas.

Stir frequently until heated through.
When the frozen peas first come in contact with the butter, it will appear as if all of the moisture has disappeared, don’t worry, this is temporary and will fix itself as the peas warm up.
Enjoy.
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Submit your domestic questions to: helpme@home-ec101.com.

Heather says:

If you load this dish up with steamed broccoli it’s easy to pretend it’s healthy. This recipe makes four servings of alfredo and can create a variety of meals by varying the accompaniments.  My favorites are blackened beef, chicken, or shrimp.  If spicy foods are not your style, try grilled chicken, shrimp, or vegetables.

For color try adding a handful of diced tomatoes.

If you keep the additions simple, this dish can be made in under twenty minutes (and not taste like it).

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 TBSP whole wheat flour (white will work)
• 4 TBSP butter
• 4 cloves garlic – minced
• 1 cup half and half

In a small bowl stir together the parmesan and flour.  I use whatever I have on hand, sometimes I have a Parmesan / Romano blend and that works fine, too.

Mince the garlic.

Heat a skillet over medium heat.

Melt the butter.

Add the garlic and saute until just golden.

If you are adding steamed vegetables or planning on quickly sauteing shrimp in the garlic and the butter, do so now.  Proceed to the next step only when your additions are heated through.

Add the half and half, then slowly stir in the Parmesan.

Stir constantly and bring to a low simmer until thickened. Serve immediately over your favorite pasta.

Enjoy.

Heather says:

Meatless meals are often great for the wallet.  This recipe can be prepared with canned or dried beans.  If you use dry black beans, cook 1/2lb dried beans until soft.  I put mine in the crockpot the morning I want to make the burritos, cover them with water, and turn the crock on low. About an hour before I wish to serve dinner I make the rest of the recipe.  My kids were unimpressed, but Mr. Heather asked for more and with vegetarian dishes, that’s a high compliment.

To round out the filling we add cooked rice and cheese.  Then top with whatever your little heart desires: guacamole, sour cream, salsa, you get the idea.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups cooked black beans
• 1 tomato diced
• 1 TBSP cilantro – chopped
• 3 green onions – chopped
• Juice from 1 lime (about 3 TBSP)
• 1 garlic clove – chopped
• Optional – 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• Optional – 1/4tsp hot sauce
• 1/4 cup canola or olive oil

Since I use dried beans I drain them and place them back on the crockpot on high.  Otherwise, place the beans in a pot on the stove on low.

To the beans add the: tomato, onion, and cilantro.  Stir occasionally, but let heat through.

Now, if you would like to be all fancy, get out a bowl combine the lime juice, garlic, and optional pepper and hot sauce.  Then, whisk briskly while you slowly pour the oil, in a steady stream into the bowl.

Or, you can be lazy like me and throw the remaining ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake vigorously.  I have kids underfoot and don’t like washing extra utensils.

Stir the dressing (that’s what you just made) into your bean mixture.

Spoon into warm tortillas (I zap mine in the microwave for a few seconds) with rice and grated cheese.  Fold, top with condiments, and enjoy.

Heather says:

I haven’t quite figured out what chemical I’m slowly weaning my family from, but it took a while for them to decide to like home made mac and cheese more than the stuff from the box. My husband has finally begun asking for my version specifically, so I believe I have hit upon a winner. This recipe is based on Alton Brown’s, the only reason I’m ever tempted to spring for cable.

Classic Meat and Three

Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese

• 1/2 lb elbow macaroni
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 4 TBSP butter
• 5oz evaporated milk
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper (black is OK)
• 10 oz sharp cheddar, shredded

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return the pasta to the pot and grate in the 4 TBSP butter. Toss to coat.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and dry mustard. Slowly stir into the pasta and add the cheese a few ounces at a time, stirring constantly over low heat.
Continue to stir for three minutes or until creamy, serve hot.