Julia got a number of cookbooks for Christmas, and what better to do with them than have a Cookbook Party, followed by a watching of the Doctor Who Christmas special?
Attending: Brooke (baby wrangling), Thad (entree), Julia (side dish), Rick (dessert)
~Entree: Thad~
Chicken Long Rice
(The Gourmet Cookbook by Ruth Reichl) Thanks, Uncle Max!
THE INGREDIENTS:
2-1/2 pounds whole chicken thighs
1-1/2 T. minced peeled fresh ginger
2 t. salt
2-1/2 quarts water
1 large onion, finely chopped
1-1/2 extra large (Knorr) or 2 regular chicken bouillon cubes
4 small dried shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
1/2 pound bean thread noodles, cut into 3 inch lengths with kitchen scissors
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 t. freshly ground pepper
THE INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine chicken, ginger and salt in a 5-quart pot, add 2 quarts water, and bring to a simmer. Partially cover and simmer, skimming froth occasionally, until chicken is very tender, about 40 minutes. Transfer chicken to a bowl; set broth aside.
When chicken is cool, discard skin and bones and shred meat.
Pour brother through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl; discard ginger. Return broth to cleaned pot, add remaining 2 cups of water, onion, bouillon cubes, and mushrooms, cover, and bring to a boil. Add noodles, reduce heat to moderate, cover and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let noodles stand, covered, for 30 minutes.
Stir chicken into noodles and heat over moderate heat just until hot. Stir in scallions, salt to taste, and pepper.
Cook's comments:
It came out looking rather gloopy and I think it could have used a little more flavor, but I think I had both seconds and thirds so I guess it was all right. If I were to make it again I'd mince the onion a bit finer and add a little more chicken and mushroom. The noodle to chicken ratio was pretty high and you couldn't hardly tell that there were any mushrooms. Ultimately my vote for the winning dish.
Party Club's comments:
Brooke: My vote for the win. Tasty, soft, and the flavors are mild enough that you can just devour it. Might have been nice with a bit more flavor variety, like fish cakes or somesuch.
Julia: Okay, I've got to be honest, here. This was tasty, but I just couldn't get past those strange, gelatinous, clear bean noodles. They were positively... Cthuloid. Also, I think it could have used more meat, and overall just a bit more flavor.
Rick: A cthuloid treat for the whole family. Frankly, too subtle on the flavors, overall rather disappointing and strange. Somehow made the chicken even more bland and almost fishy, possibly due to the green onions. Looked like something that belonged on a bas relief tablet.
~Side: Julia~
Calico Beans
(Cooking for a Cause: a collection of recipes by the Pediatric Brain Tumor Program at UF & Shands Children's Hospital) From Eliza, and for a good cause.
THE INGREDIENTS:
1 can baked beans
1 can northern beans- drained
1 can butter beans- drained
1 can kidney beans- drained
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
1/2 pound bacon- browned and drained
1 pound hamburger- browned and drained
1 medium onion- diced
1 t. vinegar
THE INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix all ingredients into baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes
Cook's comments:
First of all, I made this with ham and no bacon. I had ham (Rick made a ham over the holidays, and had bunches of it in the freezer), and I didn't have bacon. They both come from pigs, so I figured, all good, you know? There was also a whole thing where I didn't have enough brown sugar and ended up using raw sugar and some molasses instead. The dish turned out okay. Although, I think in future, I might make it with tomato sauce, rather than ketchup. A little more vinegar, carmelize the onions- I think those are all things that would improve the overall flavor. Still, it was good, meaty, barbecue beans. How meaty? This is a picture of the meat as I was cooking it, prior to adding the beans. The others kept asking me if I was sure I was making a side dish, since there was more meat than in Thad's main course.
Party Club's comments:
Brooke: Too ketchup-y for my taste, though it was otherwise quite tasty. All that meat was delicious.
Rick: Tasty, though a bit sweet and ketchupy. Some of that is likely due to the use of Ham instead of bacon, resulting in the savory being almost completely drowned out, and it being more like a sweet and sour dish than what I think of from beans.. I enjoyed it quite a bit otherwise, as it had a nice vinegar tartness.
Thad: Very tasty, although I do agree with Brooke that it was too ketchupy. Julia and Rick actually had to run out to the store and get the ketchup for this recipe as the bottle they had in their fridge had expired in '06. Rick was insisting that it was fine and they asked my opinion. It was so brown that I thought they were asking me to taste some home-made BBQ sauce. Clearly Rick is out to kill us all.
The meat/bean/onion/brownsugar/vinegaryness of this dish all worked very well together and it was a toss up for me between this and my chicken dish.
~Dessert: Rick~
Oatmeal Fruit Bars
(Also from Cooking for a Cause)
THE INGREDIENTS:
1 egg
1/2 c. butter, softened
2/3 c. honey
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda, coriander and cloves (coriander and cloves are optional)
1 t. cinnamon
1-1/4 c. wheat flour
1-1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1-1/2 c. chopped fruit
THE INSTRUCTIONS:
Cream egg, butter and honey. Add salt, baking soda, coriander, cloves and cinnamon. Stir and add everything else. Beat well. Pour on buttered cookie sheet. Bake at 350ยบ for 20 minutes. Can be frozen. Be sure to spread dough evenly on cookie sheet.
Cook's Comments:
Pretty easy to make, though we had a bit of the hangup when I couldn't find honey. We ventured on though using a mixture of a tiny bit of honey I could find, some molasses, water and raw sugar which overall was quite nice. The recipe done this way was a smidge dry, though I think a 1/4 cup of applesauce might solve that. I used walnuts, golden raisins and craisins(in place of the recipie's unspecified chopped fruit), skipped the coriander (since I had none) in this and it turned out quite tasty and lovely, my personal vote for winner. Makes a handy and grabbable breakfast. One note: does not like to come out of the pan easily, so be careful or you might scratch your non-stick trying to cut it in the pan. Easily adaptable to vegan I would think, using shortening or applesauce instead of butter
Party Club's Comments:
Brooke: Good, I suppose. Overly dry, needs you to have a glass of milk with it (and even then I think it would still be too dry to my taste). Could use moistening up somehow, but not bad tasting.
Julia: I really liked the interaction of the oats and the fruits. The flavor and texture combinations were nice. This was ultimately my pick for the win.
Thad: Like Brooke said, very dry. The fruit and oats worked together, but I didn't find them especially exciting and wasn't enough to compensate for the dryness. This was the only dish I didn't get seconds of. Although, to be fair I had already eaten a fair amount by the time this was served. Probably just as well, like I said above, I think Rick is trying to poison us.
The Votes:
None of the recipes was standout this time, and none of them was a disaster. There were two votes for the Chicken Long Rice to win, and two votes for the Oatmeal Fruit Bars. Knowing that we needed a tiebreaker, we invited our friend Jeff over. He picked the Calico Beans.
After we poked him and told him that he had to actually break the tie and not cause more trouble, he picked the Oatmeal Bars, making dessert once again the winner!
No one could agree on a loser, which is probably just as well. When we make food together, we all win.
Party Club's Comments:
Brooke: Good, I suppose. Overly dry, needs you to have a glass of milk with it (and even then I think it would still be too dry to my taste). Could use moistening up somehow, but not bad tasting.
Julia: I really liked the interaction of the oats and the fruits. The flavor and texture combinations were nice. This was ultimately my pick for the win.
Thad: Like Brooke said, very dry. The fruit and oats worked together, but I didn't find them especially exciting and wasn't enough to compensate for the dryness. This was the only dish I didn't get seconds of. Although, to be fair I had already eaten a fair amount by the time this was served. Probably just as well, like I said above, I think Rick is trying to poison us.
The Votes:
None of the recipes was standout this time, and none of them was a disaster. There were two votes for the Chicken Long Rice to win, and two votes for the Oatmeal Fruit Bars. Knowing that we needed a tiebreaker, we invited our friend Jeff over. He picked the Calico Beans.
After we poked him and told him that he had to actually break the tie and not cause more trouble, he picked the Oatmeal Bars, making dessert once again the winner!
No one could agree on a loser, which is probably just as well. When we make food together, we all win.
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