Catalyst Cooks

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Thanksgiving Tips and Tricks November 22, 2011

Filed under: © Jen Antila and Jen the Catalyst, 2010 to present. — Jen Antila @ 8:49 am
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Thanksgiving is here!  Thanksgiving is here!

It’s my 10th anniversary hosting Thanksgiving… after ten years, I’ve learned a lot about cooking and hosting.  But even better, with a bit of age and more lessons under my belt, I’ve become even more thankful for the special people in my life, the fun times we’ve had, and all of those things big and small that brought me to this spot right here.  Thnaks to you for being a part of the Catalyst Cooks Story!!!

TEN TIPS for a FUN THANKSGIVING

1.  Hosting?  When you invite your guests, be ready with an answer when they ask what they can bring or how they can help.  My favorite response?  “Bring Wine!”

2.  Going to someone else’s house?  Ask what you can bring.  or, see above… “Bring Wine!”

3.  Cooking (at your place or to bring?)  Choose some great recipes.  Here are some of my favorites:

Turkey

Bread

Potatoes

Side Dish

4.  Make a list.  Lists are helpful for everyone, but especially hosts, and at my house the big list is:  what’s happening in my oven, when, and at what temperature?

5.  Know what you’re thankful for (refer to making a list, #4).  If you’re brave, share it at the Thanksgiving table.

6.  If some part of your preparations don’t go as planned- have the phone number of a kitchen hero at the ready.  Or, know when to cut your losses and move on.   (the best stories arise from situations that have gone awry!)

7.  A beautifully set table can erase any kitchen calamities.  And the table can be set ahead… so get out your best wares and make it fancy!

8.  My personal favorite, if you are hosting, make room at your table for Thanksgiving orphans.  Invite a friend who doesn’t have other plans.

9.  SAVOR and ENJOY your dinner!

10.  Last but certainly not least, if you are not hosting, DO THE DISHES.  Even if your host says no, butt your head right in there and get crackin’.  :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

(do you have any favorite tips or tricks?  How are you celebrating Thanksgiving?  Leave a comment below, love to hear them!)

 

Enjoy Fall! Quick Homemade Applesauce Recipe October 10, 2011

Filed under: © Jen Antila and Jen the Catalyst, 2010 to present. — Jen Antila @ 3:38 pm
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What to do with those ugly-but-good apples?  Get a great piece of pork and make some applesauce to go with it!

I went to my friend Rebekah’s last week to finalize the new Catalyst Cooks mark and design.  I can’t wait to share a new, action-oriented, fun logo with you in the near future… as well as a new website.  Coming soon!

Anyway, Rebekah had received a bag full of apples that weren’t quite crunchy enough to eat, too marked up to have in a pretty bowl, too quick to brown to cut up and take in a baggie for lunch.  In other words, just perfect for making applesauce.

I used an apple slicer to cut the apples into uniform sizes,    

and then quickly cut the peel off each piece with a very sharp paring knife.

I put the apple slices in a Dutch Oven pot, and liberally sprinkled sugar over the apples and allowed them to macerate in the sugar and their own juices.

After some time had passed (15-30 minutes or longer), I squeezed some fresh lemon juice on the apples (enough to just cover the bottom of the pot) and brought the liquid to a boil over a high flame on the stovetop.  After the liquid was boiling, I reduced the heat to a very low simmer, covered the pot, and let the apples break down for another 15-30 minutes.

  I then increased the heat again to high, and added enough Parley Lake Kay Gray wine to cover the bottom of the pot, and brought it to a boil.  I left the pot uncovered and reduced the heat to low/simmer until the apples had really broken down.

At this point all I had to do was mix the apples all together and add some spices.  I especially appreciated pairing the apples with chai spices – cinnamon, cardamom, cloves – to give the applesauce a bit of kick when I’m pairing it with pork.

I like to taste along the way, and add adjustments to bring the applesauce to my taste… sugar, salt; spices, lemon juice… and when it was close, I heated up my cast iron pan and flash fried the pork chops (simply seasoned in salt and pepper) from Braucher’s meats at the Kingfield farmer’s market.

Nothing like a fun fall plate to bring the harvest to my table! 

 

Thanksgiving Primer III October 22, 2010

Filed under: © Jen Antila and Jen the Catalyst, 2010 to present. — Jen Antila @ 9:18 am
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I like the number three- everything seems to come in trifectas!

Thanksgiving is no exception- where the First Part is guests/menu, the Second Part is sketching out what needs to be done and asking for help, and the third part is:

Actually doing it.

The week before Thanksgiving is such a rush! 

And yes, I mean running around; but I also and mostly mean the FUN of it all. 

 I love having a solid gameplan for the days leading up to Thanksgiving Thursday, and executing against the plan. 

When not only are my food recipes ready to go, but I’m ready to go too.

You can learn all of my secrets by attending the Thanksgiving Crash Course!  Check it out HERE and HERE, and sign up!

It’s all about:

  • A la the big Santa Claus— I made my list, now I’m checking it twice.  (Before I go to the grocery store!)
  • A la Jack Sparrow— enjoying the treasure hunt that is grocery shopping.
  • A la Frosty the Snowman— Thawing out (and brining) the Turkey.  No- the rule “Better late than Never” does NOT apply in this situation!  It will need 4 days!
  • A la June Cleaver— Getting the table- and the house- ready.  Don’t forget to clean the guest bathroom too.
  • Cook anything I can – in advance!

Like…. Potatoes. 

Don’t think you need to wait to peel, boil, and mash those potatoes while your guests are in the living room drinking wine and watching football. 

You can be doing that too!  Just make them on Wednesday before Thanksgiving…. using my Grandma Spaniol’s trusty recipe:

**** Warning Warning**** THANKSGIVING IS A “NO CALORIE COUNTING ZONE” AT MY HOUSE.  You have been warned.

Ingredients:

  • 1 – 5lb bag of Baking Potatoes
    • Peel the potatoes. 
    • Put them in a large Dutch oven or Stock pot and cover them with cool tap water… starting this way ensures the potatoes will cook evenly! 
    • Bring to a boil (for about 40-45 minutes, test for doneness with a fork)
    • Drain (I use the potato water, once cooled, to water my houseplants!)
    • Put in a greased 9 x 13 pan (that has a cover)
    • Mash them (I recommend either using a potato ricer for a very smooth result, or a hand masher, after having added the below ingredients, for a more textured result.  Don’t use a hand mixer!  It introduces too much air and may make the texture like paste.)

Mash into the Potatoes:

  • 1 stick of room temperature, or softened, unsalted butter
  •  1- 8oz block of cream cheese or Neufchatel lower fat cream cheese, at room temperature or softened
  • 1 cup of sour cream (I use Light Daisy as it has no added ingredients!)
  • 1 tsp Onion salt
  • 1.5 tsp white pepper, or black pepper if you don’t mind the appearance
  • 1 tsp Seasoning salt
  • 1 tsp Salt (to taste)

You can refrigerate these potatoes (for a couple of days if necessary) until Thanksgiving day.

I typically let the turkey cook all by itself in the oven until it is done.  I remove it from the oven and set aside some of the cooking juices, to make gravy later. 

Cover it with the roasting pan cover, blanket the roaster with a couple of large beach towels, and let the turkey rest for at least 20, and up to 45, minutes.  This allows the turkey to absorb yummy juices back into the meat, and to slowly come to a good “carving” temperature.

As soon as the turkey is out of the oven, I put all of the side dishes that need to be warmed (including the potatoes) into the oven at 350 degrees for 30-60 minutes. 

I recruit my mom to make pan gravy on the stovetop, as she does it way better than me.

As all of this is coming together, I get my master carver into the kitchen to carve the bird at 20-40 minutes after the turkey has emerged from the oven. 

The last hour before eating is crucial, but with this game plan all of Thanksgiving bounty is on the table, hot, at the same time!

“The bird has landed”!!

 

Catalyst Cooks’ take on Mayslacks Roast Beef – ‘Jenstyle’ June 15, 2010

Filed under: © Jen Antila and Jen the Catalyst, 2010 to present. — Jen Antila @ 7:56 am
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As a result of my onion cutting post, I received a lot of mail about other theories on how to cut an onion.  So I decided to host an Onion Throwdown and host the world’s foremost knife wielders to demonstrate different methods of cutting an onion.  OK, maybe it was the best knife wielder in Bloomington, our friend Bartender Steve.  And yes, maybe it was just an excuse to try to make Mayslacks Roast Beef sandwiches!

I conducted research online for a couple of days, and consulted my cookbooks. 

The following is what I think best approximates the “World Famous Garlic Roast Beef Sandwich” from Mayslacks.

The cut of beef is really important.  I chose Round Eye Roast of Beef.  It cooks evenly, it has a nice uniform round shape which is easier to cut into thin slices, and it has a nice appearance on the sandwich.

I bought 1/2 pound of meat per person.  That ended up being a little much, but I didn’t pile on the meat as high as I could have.

Give yourself 6 hours from fridge to table.  There are four steps to this recipe: Dry Rub and Sit; Roasting & Resting; Slicing; and Preparing the Sandwich.

Step One

Dry Rub

Ingredients:

  • 1 part ground pepper
  • 1 part Kosher Salt
  • 1 part Onion powder
  • 1 part Garlic powder  

Rub the beef with this spice rub in the morning, and refrigerate the meat all day.

(Make sure to rub all sides and the ends, too.)

While the meat was in the fridge, I went out to the grocery store to buy rye buns… Alas!  None were to be had.

So I bought some rye flour and made ‘em myself, adapting this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  Maybe I’ll go into how to speed bread through multiple rises and falls some other day.

Step Two

Roast & Rest

I decided to roast the meat an hour before my guests were to arrive- betting that it would take about an hour and a half.

For Roasting:

  • 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
  • 1 can of Beef Broth (I used less sodium/fat free)
  • Fresh Minced Garlic to taste (I used ~6 cloves)
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Worsteshire sauce

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Put olive oil on your hands and rub down the meat (which moistens the dry rub).

Place the beef in a roasting pan with a cover.  Add 1/4 Cup of the Beef Broth to the pan, insert a meat thermometer, and roast uncovered for 20 minutes.

After the first 20 minutes, turn the heat down to 200 degrees.

Add the rest of the beef broth and worsteshire to the roasting pan. 

Press the fresh, minced garlic onto the meat (be careful, it’s hot). 

Cover the roast and cook until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 135 degrees.

Remove the roast from the oven and allow it to rest, covered, for 30 minutes before slicing.

Step Three

Slicing

For best results, slice with a meat slicer or mandoline…

since I don’t have one, we cut it with a knife. 

Cut very, very thinly- as thinly as you can.

Doesn’t it look great?

Dark brown crust on the outside, infused with garlic flavor; marbled and pink on the inside.

Step Four

Prepare the Sandwich

Ingredients

  • Rye Buns
  • Pickled Banana Peppers (found near the pickles) – for garnish
  • Prepared Horseradish (found near the sour cream… who knew?) – for garnish
  • Au jus (from the roasting pan) – on the side in a small bowl

Place the meat on the rye bun.

I asked the guests to garnish their own sandwich, but if you want to be traditional- add horseradish and bell pepper garnish, and serve with au jus on the side.

There you go, the Famous Garlic Roast Beef Sandwich, Jenstyle! 

Perfect with a spicy, bold red wine – Shiraz or Syrah – such as Parley Lake Winery’s Syrah.  I know of no other that can pair so well with an abundance of garlic and onions – what a pair!

 

The Making of the Burgers May 11, 2010

Filed under: © Jen Antila and Jen the Catalyst, 2010 to present. — Jen Antila @ 7:57 am
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Applegate Farms Turkey Burgers - Yum!

Yesterday, I made Burgers Mexicanos for Lunch (since I had ripe avocadoes and tomatoes to use.)  

Ready for the grill

I get to preview the lunch!

I love homemade bread, and I love to spoil the lunch bunch.  So when I got up yesterday morning, the first thing I did was start the buns for the bread.  I looked up a recipe and ended up making some significant adaptions to make it work. 

By the way- don’t be scared of making bread.  It’s really fun and easy.  And it’s not expensive if you mess up, because it’s only flour, water, and yeast.  I always keep a jar of bread yeast in my refrigerator.  As long as you have flour and yeast on hand, you are ready to make bread- anytime.  (If you are interested in a bread class, I’m thinking of doing one on a Saturday or Sunday- because it does take a little time.  We could do brunch together!  Leave me a note or email and let me know if that sounds cool to you!)

Here is the recipe:

Homemade Hamburger Buns (heavily adapted from Sally’s Place recipe)

1 cups all-purpose flour (plus additional wheat flour for kneading) 
3 T toasted wheat bran (because I didn’t have wheat germ) 
1 T active dry yeast 
1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
2/3 cups warm (~110 degree) water
1 T sugar
1/4 cup olive oil (I think I would omit this or use only a little next time.)

Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water, allow to stand 5 minutes until it bubbles a bit.

Add the all purpose flour, wheat bran and salt to this mixture and stir with a wooden spoon.

Turn out the dough onto the counter and knead for 8 minutes (sprinkle a little olive oil if you prefer) and add wheat flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the counter.  The dough should be elastic. 

Allow dough to rise for about an hour in a warm, draft free place (I use a glass bowl covered with a damp towel and put it in the oven, which I preheat to 100 degrees).

Punch down the dough and cover, allow to rest 5 minutes.

Shape the dough into a tube.  Cut into 5 equal pieces.  Put into a pan to rise into buns, Like this: 
 

Second rise of the burger buns. I put the pan on a cloth so that the pan doesn't get too hot.

Allow to rise for another 30 minutes.  Remove them from the oven (if that is where they are rising) and preheat to 375, for 20 minutes.  Place the buns in the oven (ha!) and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden and sound hollow when tapped.

 

Traditional Lunch is the April winner May 7, 2010

Filed under: © Jen Antila and Jen the Catalyst, 2010 to present. — Jen Antila @ 9:09 am
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For the month of April, which ranged from crazy Turkey sightings to Beach Visits, the Lunch Club’s favorite meal was a traditional one: Chicken Pot Pie in ramekins.

The word Ramekin is so cool, and the single-serving dishes are so cute- that must be why this dish won!  Presentation is important!

Adapted from April 2007 Cooking Light

This made 8 servings.

Ingredients

  • 2  T  butter
  • 2  T olive oil
  • 3  cups  diced potato ~ 1lb
  • 2  cups  finely diced red onion
  • 1 pkg pre-sliced mushrooms (8 oz)
  • 1  cup  diced celery
  • 1  cup  diced carrot
  • 1/4  cup  chopped fresh parsley
  • 2  t  fresh thyme leaves
  • 6 1/2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
  • 3  cups  skim milk – I think you could also use a little less.  I ended up draining some liquid from a larger pan.
  • 1/2  cup  chicken stock (I used pan drippings from when I cooked the chicken)
  • 2  cups  chopped cooked chicken breast (I roasted a 1.25 lb package of chicken breasts that morning and then chopped it for this recipe.)
  • 1  cup  frozen green peas
  • 1  teaspoon seasoned salt
  • 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
  • 8  (14 x 9-inch) sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
  • Butter-flavored Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add oil. Add potatoes and next 6 ingredients (through thyme), and sauté for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; sprinkle flour over vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in milk and pan drippings. Increase heat to medium-high; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thickened. Add chicken, peas, salt, and pepper.

Spoon mixture into a 8 ramekins, or 4 ramekins and a 1 qt baking dish. Unroll and cover the sheets of phyllo dough with a damp towel.  Using one sheet at a time, spray it with cooking spray.  For ramekins, fold in fourths and tuck into the edge of the ramekin.  For a baking dish, place phyllo layers loosely on top of mixture in dish and pinch random spots to create peaks of visual interest. Place dish on a baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 20-30 minutes or until top is golden (the baking dish will take longer than the ramekins).

I put the ramekins into larger Gladware containers to send for lunch.  I covered the baking dish and stored it until Deb and Steve Z ate it for dinner on a later night- in that case, reheat at 350 uncovered until heated through (~20 minutes).

It was beautiful and tasted like fresh veggies all the way.  Parley Lake Winery’s Frontenac Gris was a comfortable pairing – both mellow and inviting to my palate.  Yum!

 

 
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