Baby Greens and Quinoa Salad

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On our regular Friday night date, we went to California Pizza Kitchen to share a salad and a mushroom pizza, our usual.  But CPK had a new salad on the menu, and I came right home and tried to duplicate it, with a couple of twists.  Since I didn’t measure too many of the ingredients, a lot of this is sort of “throw a little of this in, then throw a little of that.”  If you want the original, head to CPK, but this is a good approximation.

1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups water
Cook the quinoa in the water, according to package directions.  Rinse under cool water, then drain.  Alternatively, you could cook the quinoa ahead of time, then chill it before use.  It also freezes very well. [Check other salads on this site for more detailed directions on how to cook quinoa.]

Place the quinoa in the bottom of a large sloping bowl, suitable for tossing a salad.  Douse the quinoa with some dressing: you can use any vinaigrette from this site, or any purchased light vinaigrette would do.  For this salad I used Brianna’s Real French Vinaigrette and added a splash or two of red wine vinegar, as I think the ratio of vinegar to oil is a bit too low in many commercial dressings. I buy both of those things at Ralph’s.

 To the bowl, add the following:
About 2-3 cups baby greens, loosely chopped
1 large tomato or three medium on-the-vine tomatoes (from Costco), chopped
1/2 small jar of sun-dried tomatoes (about 2 ounces, from Trader Joe’s.  The variety I chose were already cut into strips so I just threw them in.)
1-2 ounces (about a handful) of toasted pine nuts (also from Trader Joe’s.  You can buy regular pine nuts, then toast them slightly either under the broiler and a watchful eye, or tossing them lightly in a non-stick skillet)
2 ounces feta cheese–I buy mine in a brick (keeps fresh longer) lop off about an inch worth and crumble it by hand
Chopped red onion.  I cut off 2 slices for a large salad, each slice about 1/4″ thick.  Then I chop those slices into a medium dice, of about 1/4″

Then I tossed everything lightly. Check for the salt/pepper balance.  I found it needed quite a bit more salt than pepper.  Since I always like to heighten the flavors a bit on grain salads, I used a light shake of cayenne powder, then tossed really well.  My cayenne is on the old side, so I use two light shakes.  To make sure I know how much is going in, I “shake” it into the lid, check (that I haven’t dumped half the bottle in), then sprinkle it over the salad.   Serve with a La Brea baguette, or some other fine piece of bread.

I think you could add some deboned rotisserie chicken to this, if you want to move it beyond vegetarian.  I always have some chicken in the freezer, ready to go, but it’s really a fine salad by itself.

Double-chocolate Brownies

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So, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with these.  I love the flavor, so rich and chocolatey I could dive into the batter and be happy for days.  But I also like the ease of opening the Betty Crocker Brownie mix from the store and stirring it altogether.  These brownies are also known as Outrageous Brownies, and they come from Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame.  But I’ve adapted them slightly.

These are the kind of brownies that make a TON–perfect for giving to the ladies on Mother’s Day at church, or for taking to a picnic.  I’ve read about them online and many cooks are simply cutting the amounts in half and baking it in a 9 x 13 inch pan, adjusting the cooking time.  But me–I’m going with the original. If you don’t feel like baking, head to her website, where you can order a mix for her Outrageous Brownies as well.

What did I change from her recipe?  I’m not a fan of mocha anything.  No way, no how, and hers called for some coffee granules to cut the sweetness of the brownie and deepen the chocolate flavor.  I like the sweetness just fine and the chocolate flavor’s pretty deep as it is, so I axed the granules.  Here’s the recipe, but promise me you’ll use real butter and the full amount of chocolate.  Be sure to let the batter cool down so you don’t lose the texture of the added chocolate chips.

Ingredients

1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, about 5 cups–or use a scale
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts

 Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour a 12 x 18 x 1-inch baking sheet.  I just use one of the cubes of butter, then throw it in to melt.  After you grease it everywhere, throw a handful of flour on the sheet, then tap it around with your hands until the butter is well-covered.  Then tip it upside-down over your sink and give a small tap.  The excess flour will fall off. Set it aside.

 

Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips (about three cups), and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. However, if you have a heavy pan (and I mean HEAVY) and you promise to stand there and babysit it, stirring stirring stirring, while it melts over a low flame, I’ll let you do it in a pan without all the water bath business.  NEVER let it come anywhere near a boil.  Just a low, soft heat until everything melts.  And stir constantly.  (Did I mention this?) Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.  She’s not kidding about this step.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. [NOTE: Who sifts anymore?  I don’t even OWN a sifter.  Just put the dry ingredients in a bowl, and using a kitchen whisk, stir several times to blend the ingredients evenly.] Add to the cooled chocolate mixture.

Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour the whole conglomerate into the baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares.

To serve a crowd and to cut the calories down to where I wasn’t gasping when I read the amount (I know what the amount is because I figured it out), if you cut them about 1-inch square, you can feed the five thousand. Or eighty-eight.

Roasted Sugar Snap Pea Pods

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I was reading an article about this new restaurant in Los Angeles that has a giant wood-burning oven as its centerpiece.  The menu is based on things that can be cooked in there and one thing they mentioned was roasted sugar snap pea pods.  I bought a bag the next time I was at Costco, then lacking a giant wood-burning oven in my kitchen–or my home, for that matter–I searched for a recipe online that could be done in my oven.  It’s simple.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Wash the sugar snap pea pods, and “de-string” them if they need it, by snapping off one end with a paring knife and pulling the long “string” away from the “backbone” of the pea pod.  I was lucky.  Mine were the stringless type (they do sell some like this).

Toss with a few tablespoons of good olive oil, some thyme, salt and pepper.  At the last minute I stripped some rosemary leaves off a sprig or two, snipped them into small pieces and tossed those in as well.  Spread out onto a cookie sheet. . . or two–don’t crowd them.  Roast for about 10 minutes (mine took 13) or until they just begin to brown.

The pods soften up, but still have a little bit of texture, and the peas sweeten up inside.  We’ve been snacking on the ALL day, and have tried them with some Trader Joe’s regular hummus as a dip.  Quick, easy.

Irish Soda Bread

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First of all, this apparently is NOT traditional Irish Soda Bread.  According to the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, the traditional one does not have raisins in it.  Well, we can agree on that score.  The one I love to make doesn’t have raisins either — it has sultanas — also known as golden raisins.

Back in March of 2009, when we were having book group, I wanted a recipe to take to Joan’s house to compliment the fresh-squeezed orange juice she had promised to serve for refreshments.  And, because it was March.  And when we in America think March, we think green, Ireland, shamrocks, and corned beef and cabbage.  Of, if you’re like me, See’s Irish Potatoes, as well.  Now, with this recipe, you can think “Irish Soda Bread.” Modified slightly from one published in Bon Appetit Magazine.

You’ll need a sturdy 10-inch baking pan; I use a springform pan.  It will fill that all the way.

5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) REAL butter, chilled when cut into small cubes, then left out to come to room temperature (if you are having a hot day, maybe leave it in the fridge)
2 cups golden raisins (also known as sultanas; you can buy them at Trader Joe’s)
2 Tablespoons caraway seeds
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350F.  Generously butter heavy 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 to 2 1/2-sides.  In large mixing bowl, blend first five ingredients to blend well.  Add cubes of butter; mix only until they become coated with flour and are about pea-size (NO MORE!).  Stir in sultanas and caraway seeds.  In a separate bowl, whisk egg and buttermilk together to blend.  Add to dough.  Mix briefly, just until dry is thoroughly moistened.  You may have some dry ingredients in the bottom of your mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to stir in the dry ingredients thoroughly.  A light touch on the mixing yields a tender loaf.  Go easy.

Turn dough into the prepared pan, smoothing top and rounding slightly in center.  If desired, dip a small sharp knife in flour and cut a 1-inch deep X in the top center of the dough.

Bake until the break is cooked through and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour.  Cool bread in pan for ten minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool thoroughly.  To serve, slice into 3/4″ slices, across the loaf.  This is really good spread with butter (and a little bit of jam if you want, but I’m sure that’s not Irish, either).  For book group, I carted it over there warm, and we gobbled it down accompanied by sweet orange juice, freshly squeezed from Joan’s own orange trees.

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door.

 

Buttermilk Waffles

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Maybe I had some leftover buttermilk that first time I made these, or maybe I just wanted some waffles.  Who knows?  These waffles are from the pages of a well-used, splattered and worn cookbook: The Joy of Cooking.  It was  my go-to cookbook when I was a young bride of 19-and-a-half, alongside the red-checkered Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. Years later I laughed out loud when in the movie Julie/Julia, the actress playing Irma S. Rombauer, the cookbook’s author, admits to not testing all the recipes.  I’d say this one’s been well-tested in my kitchen and it is a success every time.

Recently we had the grandchildren over and Alex told me he didn’t like waffles.  “But, Alex,” I said.  “You haven’t had MY waffles.”  Above is his response to tasting them: a hearty thumb’s up.  He had nearly three.  We like them drizzled with warm REAL maple syrup, not that fake stuff in the grocery store (check Trader Joe’s).  That habit–of real syrup–was inherited from my father, who had shipped to him six 1-quart tins of real maple syrup from a farm in Vermont every year when we were growing up, and for many years after that.

Plug in your preferred waffle iron to heat.  If you are using it for the first time, have a bowl with some shortening in it along with a stiff pastry brush to season the grids.  As the Joy of Cooking notes: “Once conditioned, the grids are neither greased nor washed.  You may brush the iron out to remove any crumbs.  After use, merely wipe down the outside with a cloth well wrung out in hot water.”  Last thing from the cookbook: “You may think our waffle recipes heavy in fat.  But the richer the waffle dough, the crisper it becomes.  With the butter flavor baked in, there is then no reason for butter on top of it.”  Amen.  Just some warm syrup in a cute little pitcher.

In a large bowl, whisk together:
2 cups flour
1 and 1/3 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon soda

In a small bowl, beat until stiff, but not dry:
2 egg whites.  Set aside.

Using the same hand mixer and beaters, beat in another (separate) bowl until light:
2 egg yolks.
Add and beat:
1 and 3/4 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons melted butter

Fold the egg yolk/buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients with a few swift strokes.  Fold in the egg whites.

Bake in a prepared waffle iron, using a spoon to catch any excess that may ooze out.  After baking, there’s a temptation to open it too soon, and to split the waffle in half.  I usually watch to see if it is still steaming, and try and catch it at the end.  I lift the upper part with a light touch, and if there is too much resistance, I let it bake a little longer.  The only caveat is: if you haven’t seasoned the grids much, it may stick on the top as you raise the lid.  Have a fork handy to help it off, then put some shortening on the upper lid to season it some more.

I show above a tradition of my mother’s: adding chopped walnuts, sprinkled over the top of the dough just before closing the lid to bake.  She has also added mini-chocolate chips on occasion, but the nuts are my very favorite.  Shown above is a Belgium-style waffle iron with big fat grids.  Not my favorite.

So, for my birthday my husband gave me an old-fashioned waffle iron with normal grids–more pockets for the syrup to collect in without the waffle getting soggy.  The yield in the big waffle iron (shown above) is about 5-6, but they break into fourths, so you can feed a few at once.  (But I usually always double the batch for a crowd.)  I keep the baked, but not yet eaten, waffles in the oven at about 200 degrees while I’m serving breakfast, then throw the uneaten ones directly into the freezer.  After they are frozen, I place them in ziploc baggies and we toast them in our toaster whenever we want a waffle.

Cranberry-Cherry Pinwheels

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A few years ago I bought this sliver of a book, Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies, and thumbed through it to find a cookie or two to try.  I placed little pieces of torn paper as bookmarks–which the book still has.  But I don’t need one for this page, as I’ve made it so much, it opens by itself exactly here.  I like these cookies because you can make them ahead of time and store them in the freezer.  Some slicing and a quick bake and they’re ready to go.  They are also one of the few things on the holiday table that is lower in fat, but they still have a delicious flavor with the sweet-tangy cherry-cranberry filling and the dough with its grated orange zest. There are a few steps to this recipe, but it’s not difficult.

Filling
Combine in a medium saucepan:
1 and 1/2 cups dried cranberries ( 6 ounces)
1 jar (10 ounces) cherry preserves
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Simmer, stirring frequently, for 5-8 minutes, or until the mixture is soft and most liquid is absorbed.  Transfer to a food processor and process until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate until cool.  Filling may be stored up to 48 hours.  Let return to room temperature and stire well before using.

Dough
Using a wire whisk, thoroughly stir together and set aside:
3 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (16.75 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Using an electric mixer, beat together until very well blended:
1/4 cup butter, softened (2 oz.)
3 tablespoons corn or canola oil
1 and 1/4 cups sugar (8.75 oz.)
3 large egg whites
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel (about 1 small orange)

Beat in half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated, then stir in the remainder until well blended.

Divide the dough in half.  Form each half into a rough oblong shape about 6 inches long.  Center each log on a 12-inch-long sheet of wax paper.  Cover with a second 12-inch-long sheet of wax paper.  Press, then roll each log into an even 11-inch square, occasionally checking the underside of the dough and smooth out any creases.  Patch the dough as necessary to make the sides relatively straight.

Working with one square of dough at a time, peel away and discard the top sheet of wax paper.  Spread half of the filling evening over the entire surface of the dough; the filling layer will be thin.

Using the second sheet of wax paper, roll up the pinwheel, by easing the dough onto itself; use the paper to assist you.

Wrap the roll in wax paper (I use the existing sheet), and twist the ends to prevent unrolling.  Place on a tray or cookie sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  Freeze for at least 2 and 1/2 hours or until the rolls are firm enough to be cut neatly.  (If you wish to bake them much later, place the rolls in a plastic bag for up to a month.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.  Cut the rolls crosswise into scant 1/4″ slices.  Place them on the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Try as I might, my cookies are always misshapen, so I kind of squeeze them into shape at this point.   Bake in the upper third of the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are browned and the tops are VERY lightly colored.  One of the attractions for this cookie is that they are pale with that brilliantly colored red filling.

Drag the entire sheet of parchment paper from your baking sheet to a cooling rack, and let them cool.  Store, airtight, for 10 days, or freeze for up to one month.  I promise you no one will complain that yours are as lopsided as mine.

I made them up into favors for my lesson to the church ladies at Christmastime.  Here’s the front, and then the back.

Some time ago I had purchased 8 1/2 by 11- inch sheets of “sticker” paper.  I print out what I want to say, cut them into shape then peel and stick them on the treat bags.  The filling is kind of sticky sometimes, so I sandwiched a piece of fancy wax paper between the two cookies.

Twice-Cooked, Once-Forked Roasted Potatoes

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Weird title, but I can’t remember what Bon Appetit’s title is, but it does have “forked” in it somewhere.  You can see the fork tines, above, which helps create this wonderfully crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside texture.  I followed their recipe for the most part, except I added some rosemary leaves to the potatoes when I put them in the oven.  We had potatoes with rosemary in Italy one Christmas, so I have added it ever since to my roasting potatoes.

We had these last night for our Christmas Dinner (a bit early, as we are going traveling for the holidays) and we both agreed they were good enough to put into rotation in our regular meals.  They didn’t take that much work either.  Mine were done in about 45 minutes.  Try to time them so you can serve them hot, without having covered them with any tin foil, as I think that would make the outsides soft.  It’s the texture that is so wonderful.

Twice-Cooked, Once-Forked Roasted Potatoes, adapted from Bon Appetit

6 pounds small Yukon Gold potatoes (1 1/2″–2″-diameter), peeled  [NOTE: I couldn’t remember which kind of potatoes to buy, so I ended up buying red (boiling) potatoes; they worked out just fine)
1 tablespoon salt plus more [They call for kosher, but Trader Joe’s has been out for a while, so I used my sea salt grinder.]
1/2 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 425°. Working in 2 batches ( about 5 potatoes each batch), cook potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer potatoes to a rimmed baking sheet [Note: I put a rack on my baking sheet and put the potatoes on there]. When cool enough to handle, firmly scrape the tines of a fork up and down potatoes, creating a rough, grooved surface.

Pour oil onto another rimmed baking sheet; bake (to heat oil) for 5 minutes. Add potatoes; turn to coat. At this point, if you are using fresh rosemary, sprinkle about 1-2 Tablespoons leaves over all, sloshing the rosemary around with the potatoes and olive oil–that amount is about one 9″ twig, if you are cutting it off your landscaping plants out front.  Season with 1 tablespoon salt [I used a few grinds of the salt grinder]. Roast, turning 3 times during cooking and occasionally basting with oil, until browned and tender, 60–70 minutes.

Pear-Persimmon Bread

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This recipe was prompted by buying four gorgeous persimmons from a neighbor’s table, set up on the sidewalk with a box (with a slot) where I could put my dollar.

First step to the bread: thinking the persimmons were the Fuyu variety and trying to serve them for a side dish.  Oh, pucker-up-city! But they were gorgeous.

Next step to the bread: letting them sit out on the counter until they were, as one cook said, the texture of a wobbly water balloon.  Yes, that means the Hachiya (a kind of a wedge-shaped persimmon) is ready.  It also helped that I had two pears that were mush, and didn’t want to let them go to waste.  After hunting for a pear-persimmon combination, I used James Beard’s Persimmon bread recipe as a starting point, but had to make a few changes.  Like no cognac because I don’t do alcohol.  And monkeying with the recipe to accommodate the pears.  But here’s mine, which makes two 9-inch loaves of bread.

2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
2 cups sugar
1 cup melted butter and cooled to room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 cups persimmon/pear puree (from about 2 squishy-soft Hachiya persimmons and 2 very ripe pears)
2 cups walnuts, chopped
1 cup cranberries

Oven 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour 2 loaf pans, tapping out excess flour.

Measure the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mixing them together with the blade attachment.

Prepare the fruit puree: rinse the persimmons, then cut the thick flowery stem out of the top.  Place in a food processor. I don’t peel mine at all. [One of my persimmons turned out to be rather hard on one side, so I put it in a small bowl and microwaved it until it was soft and cooked and matched the softness of the other persimmon (desperation measure).]  Peel, core and add the pears to the food processor, then puree the fruits together.

Melt the butter in a small microwave proof bowl (about a 4 cup bowl), add the eggs to this and whisk, then add the pear-persimmon puree and whisk.  Add this mixture to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and blend on a low speed for about 1 minute.  Scrape all around the bowl to make sure the dry ingredients are being incorporated, then blend for about another minute.  Add nuts and cranberries.  (The original recipe says you could also add raisins, apricots, dates, or a mixture of these fruits.)

Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Mine was done at 55 minutes–it is a darker bread, but you don’t want to get it too done.)  Turn out of pans and let cool on wire rack.

It must be good because Dave gave it his Second-Helping-Stamp-of-Approval.

It’s pictured here on my Grandmother’s china, which I got from my mother this year. The very first recipe I ever tried for persimmon bread was my grandmother’s, written out on a 3 x 5 index card. I still have it in my recipe file.  It has canned persimmons and shortening in it, which is why I decided to create a new one.

Stuffed Pumpkin

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I first heard about this on NPR, when Dorie Greenspan was interviewed for a fall baking dish and also to promote her new book of Around my French Table.  Which I promptly put in my Amazon cart and which I now possess.  But because she encourages you to make this recipe your own, mine is nothing like hers except you start with a hollowed-out pumpkin and somewhere along the line you fill it will good things, put it in a 350 degree over for 90 minutes to two hours.  So I bought a sugar pumpkin at Trader Joe’s one day, and since we were having company for Halloween Night (the  trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood all grew up and went to college), I decided to try this.  Mine is stuffed with a small pasta blend (from Trader Joe’s), mushrooms and some Jimmy Dean’s sage sausage.  I roasted it with the lid on for 90 minutes, and it was done.  It makes a great presentation.

Start with the way Dorie starts: cut the lid off a pumpkin and hollow it out, scraping the flesh slightly to get rid of the stringy bits.  Sprinkle the inside cavity with salt, pepper and nutmeg.  I found it easier to grind the salt and pepper onto my cutting board, then pinch by pinch, sprinkle it around the inside cavity (the nutmeg went on from the spice bottle, no trouble).  Set aside.

In a medium size pot, brown the sausage well.  Turn off the heat, set aside.

Wash and cut about 3/4 pound crimini mushrooms into chunks.  In 1 Tablespoon butter, sautee half of the mushrooms in a saucepan (you’ll use this saucepan later for the pasta cooking); don’t crowd.  As they get done, dump them into the sausage, stir to mix.

When mushrooms are done, in about 1 Tablespoon olive oil, cook until slightly soft: 1 shallot, chopped and 1 large (2 small, or 3 weensy) cloves of garlic.  Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups of Harvest Grains Blend** mix (about 1/2 of the package), then add in 1 can of reduced salt Swanson’s chicken broth.  Cook until al dente–it will continue to cook in the pumpkin.  Add this slightly soupy mix to the sausage and mushrooms; stir to mix.

Spoon into your pumpkin, and don’t pack it down.  Just loosely spoon it in.  Set the pumpkin on a cookie sheet that has been lined with a sheet of parchment (or a Silpat) and bake at 350 for 90 minutes to 2 hours.  Check at 90 minutes.  The tip of knife blade should go in easily.  If the mixture is too soupy (mine wasn’t, but Dorie’s was) leave the lid off for the last few minutes.

Serve with freshly grated cheese, to be added atop the melange.  We served it by slicing it into wedges, then scooping out the mushroom/sausage mixture into a shallow bowl, topped with the cheese.  Encourage your guests to mix the cooked pumpkin with the rest–delicious.

I decided to try this again tonight, to see if we still liked it.  We did.  It’s perfect for a fall supper, and since a) today’s the last day in November–made it under the wire for fall, and b) we’re supposed to get a ten-year wind event tonight.  The house is creaking and moaning, and it feels like a Winnie-the-Pooh blustery day.

**Harvest Grain Blend: Could substitute a mix of pearl couscous, red quinoa, orzo and miniscule baby garbanzo beans.  At least that’s what the package says is in there.

Orange Dinner Rolls

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Thanksgiving Day at our house this year was a quiet affair with all the children scattered to different places, my husband and I decided to have a quiet meal at home.  So that allows me to try a couple of new things, without the pressure of deadlines and wondering if the company will like it.

I have already written about the cranberry sauce, but here’s the other new thing I tried: orange dinner rolls.  I’d heard a couple of people say they were having them for their turkey-dinner, and then when I was cleaning out looking for that cranberry sauce recipe I thought I’d lost, I found a clipping of one of those “restaurant request” columns and it featured this recipe.  The restaurant was the Morrison Lodge in Oregon on the Rogue River, and the SOS columnist for the LATimes noted that the recipe “originated with Elaine Hanton, who, with her husband B. A., purchased the lodge in 1964.”

I’d nearly forgotten to make these, in the rush of side dishes and turkey. So with an hour to go, I zipped through the mixing of the dough, rolled them out and shaped them and let them rise on the stove, next to the warm air.  Since it only makes 24, it’s a quick mix, quick shape into muffin tins and they came out of the oven just as the turkey was being sliced.  Good timing.  Good rolls!

Total time: About 1 hour, plus rising time for the dough
Servings: Makes 2 dozen rolls
Note: Adapted from Morrison’s Rogue River Lodge

Ingredients for Dough
1 cup lukewarm water
1 packet active-dry yeast (2-1/4 teaspoon yeast)
3 1/4 cups (13.8 ounces) flour, divided, plus additional for kneading
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons shortening, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt

In each cup of a 12-muffin tin pan, place about 1/2 teaspoon melted butter, then swish up around the sides with a pastry brush.

1. In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water, yeast and one-half cup flour, stirring to dissolve. Set aside just until the yeast is activated (the mixture will begin to bubble), 5 minutes.

2. While the yeast is activating, combine the remaining flour, salt, and 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar in a separate bowl.

3. With a fork (if working by hand), or using a dough hook, work half of the flour/sugar mixture into the activated yeast, then add the shortening and egg until combined. Slowly add in the remaining flour/sugar mixture (the mixture will at first be stringy, then very sticky as the flour is absorbed). Stir in the salt.

4. Move the dough to a floured surface. With floured hands, gently knead the dough (it will be sticky at first) about 5 minutes, adding flour as needed just to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers or the kneading surface. The finished dough will be tender, soft and slightly tacky. [Cook’s Note: I added a bit more flour and just used my mixer for another minute or two, remembering to keep the mixing brief.]

Ingredients and Process for Shaping the Rolls

4-5 tablespoons melted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (1 orange)

5. In a small bowl, combine the remaining one-third cup sugar with the orange zest. Using 1-2 Tablespoons of melted butter and a pastry brush, stroke the butter liberally inside 2 muffin tins, coating the wells thoroughly.  There should not be puddles of butter–just coverage.

6. On a well-floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle measuring 24 inches by 10 inches.

7. Brush the dough with 3  Tablespoons of melted butter, then sprinkle over the orange-sugar mixture.

8. Roll the rectangle lengthwise into a tight tube (as when rolling cinnamon rolls). Cut the tube into 24 (1-inch) slices, using thread if possible (the thread will slice more easily and cleanly than a knife). If you use a knife to cut the slices, roll the tube one-quarter turn after each slice to keep the tube round; otherwise, it will flatten from all the slicing.

9. Place each of the slices into the prepared muffin tin (the tins must be well-greased or the finished rolls will stick to the bottom). Cover loosely and set aside until the rolls double in size.

10. Bake the muffin trays one at a time, until the rolls are puffed and golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Rotate the trays halfway through for even baking.

11. Cool the rolls slightly, then unmold. Serve warm.  I always tip up the rolls in their tins even if I’m not going to use them immediately as this allows the steam to escape and you won’t have soggy rolls.

Each roll: 126 calories; 2 grams protein; 22 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 3 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 13 mg. cholesterol; 10 grams sugar; 101 mg. sodium.