PolitiCook.net

For Your Pleasure: Chocolate Delight!

TEXAS FRIENDSHIP CAKE

I got these neato Pyrex dishes WITH LIDS recently. A 9X13 and an 8X8. Since I take alot of dishes here and there and also make dishes from scratch, it just seemed really nice to get a dish WITH A LID I could just pop on and not have to depend on plastic or foil. This cake takes about 50 minutes start to finish. It makes a great cake to take to a BBQ or potluck dinner or to give to a neighbor just because. Seeking out Mexican vanilla is so worth it. I got an 8 oz bottle for $1.70! It it more flavorful and richer than any store or speciality brand I’ve used before. This recipe is from Central Market in Austin, Texas based on millions of Texas women’s recipes who brought this to countless picnics and parties. Enjoy! Read more »

A really neat tomato paste

Well, I found a great way to make my own tomato paste and save it for future use. I just took a 28oz can of plum tomatos with juice and put it in a sauce pan over very low heat and smushed the tomatoes with a potato masher and cooked low until it looked like tomato paste. Read more »

Chicken pot pie soup a la Kate

I love chicken pot pie. Comfort food nonpareil. Unfortunately, it no longer loves me. Between the wheat in the crust and gravy and the high-glycemic potatoes and English peas, I might as well just have a plateful of sugar topped with battery acid.

So I started thinking about ways to get that great comforting taste without the bad stuff.

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“Boursin” cheese spread

This was posted on an email list I belong to. No attribution, or I would link back to the original.

I’ve never bought Boursin cheese, but the ingredients to this one looked tasty and I had them all. Yesterday I put it together, put it in the fridge overnight, and just taste-tested. YUM!

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Tostones con … peanut sauce?

Oh, to hell with grading, cleaning up puppy vomit, mowing and putting up the produce I bought this morning. I want to talk about tostones.

In particular, I want to talk about the taste treat that burst into my coughmenudoedcough brain earlier today: plantains with peanut sauce. Which has evolved into tostones with peanut sauce.

But I’m up the mainland without an oar. I have my guesses, but who knows how’d they go? Sure, the peanut sauce will be easy — I’ve made it way too many times to have it fail me now. The tostones, however, are another matter.

maracatu, where are you? I need a tostone lesson!

Apples, and an alternative to Fruit Fresh

My neighbor, Preacher, kept my purple hulls and okra picked whilst I was in Arkansas. I returned the favor by taking him some of the peas cooked, and cherry tomatoes that he likes. He also brought me a five gallon pail full of knotty apples. I am not one to waste a gift, so I began processing them.

They were small, ugly, and full of imperfections. That is the best stock for jelly and butter. I washed them a bit at a time, and carefully cut out the bad spots. The very best, tart ones, I have reserved for a cobbler tomorrow, but the rest became stock for jelly and butter.

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Brainstorm

So yesterday I made my every-so-often big batch of chicken stock. To do this, I roast two expensive free-range chickens, cut off and save the white meat and some of the dark meat, and make stock using the remainder of the carcasses plus onions and carrots. No salt, no other seasonings. Simmer for three hours.

By the time the stock is done, there is very little flavor or texture left in the chicken meat, so I’ve been just trashing it along with the bones (despite large quantities of guilt at wasting it). The puppies would be delighted to help me out here, but because of the onions I don’t want to take a chance on feeding it to them.

So yesterday evening, after I’d put away nine quarts of stock and cleaned up the kitchen, it occurred to me.

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Stick corn bread

One can find a pan like the one below in a resale store or an antique store. The cornbread sticks that come out of this pan are really wonderful. Use non-chemical baking powder and organic corn meal and wheat flour and you are all set. Read more »

More Beans & Greens

In my quest for tasty recipes to help with the problem of too many greens in my fridge (and the co-op day on Tuesday with more incoming), I found one from the Fine Cooking website last night that jumped up and down and shouted “Make me! Make me!!!”

And I had everything I needed! (Testament to the power of the pantry!)

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Cha Cha Cha I

One of the best and most lively restaurants in San Francisco is ChaChaCha in Haight Ashbury. It is a Cuban/Puerto Rican/Chinese tapas place that is a feast for the eyes (Santeria alters on the walls) as well as the palate. If you can find the cookbook on Ebay, it’s well worth the purchase price. Here’s a good accompaniment to BBQ meat this summer. I usually add some black freshly ground pepper, too! Read more »