Another Cookbook Update

I would like to thank everyone following my food blog.  The blog just broke 1,000 hits in less than 7 weeks.  The daily hits are increasing each week.  I never imagined that the blog would do this well in such a short time.  Thank you again for following and please continue to spread the word about my blog.

The cookbook has been finalized.  What a great feeling.  My publisher is now going to print one actual book.  That book is the final proof that I will have to approve.  I should get the final proof sometime in early June.  Then I have 30 days to go through it from cover to cover and mark any mistakes or errors.  God willing, I won't find any.  I will then sign off on the final proof and return it to my publisher.

I will start working with the "Marketing" team in June.  These should be some very interesting months coming up.  If anyone has suggestions for bookstores in their area to carry the cookbook, please let me know.  I would need the name of the bookstore, address, phone number and a contact person.  I would appreciate all the help I can get in making the cookbook available to everyone.

We are still on schedule for a September release of the cookbook.

This week, the blog will talk a little about ovens, baking and items needed for making homemade pizza.  Friday will have a recipe for homemade pizza dough and a few ideas for topping it.

I would also love responses from any of you that have tried any of the recipes from this blog.  Please give me your likes, dislikes and any problems you may have had following the recipe.  Remember that this is a learning experience and I'm here to help.

Thanks and have a good week.

Garlic Bread Recipe

Garlic Bread

(12-16 slices)

Ingredients:

8 tbsp. Butter (1 stick), room temperature
2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 tbsp. Garlic Powder
As needed More Parmesan Cheese
1 loaf Italian Bread, sliced lengthwise

Directions:

Cream the butter, oil, cheese and garlic powder together until everything is well incorporated.  Spread the butter mixture over the cut sides of the two pieces of Italian bread.  Be generous with the butter mixture.  Now sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on top of the buttered bread to meet your personal taste.  Place the bread on a baking sheet and put under the broiler to cook.  The bread should be about 3 to 5 inches away from the broiler and will take 4 to 6 minutes.  Watch closely as equipment varies.  You want the bread to be nicely browned.  Remove bread when done and place on a cutting board.  You should get 6 to 8 slices out of each piece.

Note:  You could leave it in the 2 pieces and make a great Italian sandwich of
            your choice.  I have an Italian Meatball Sub in the cookbook coming in
             September that would be even better in this garlic bread.

Note:  You can use fresh garlic if you have it on hand.  I would mince 1 or 2
           cloves depending on size.  I use the garlic powder because I always
           have it on hand.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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Counter Top Toaster/Ovens

The second piece of equipment that usually has a broiler is the counter-top toaster/oven.  It is small and compact  for taking up minimum space on your kitchen counter.  They are electric and will need to have an outlet source.  Be sure that the outlet you use does not have other items pulling amps away from the toaster/oven.  It could cause you to blow a breaker in the electrical panel.  It is alright to have other equipment on the same breaker, just don't have all of them working at the same time.  It could cause a problem.

These toaster/ovens have various options for you to choose.  Typical options are for baking, toasting bread on both sides, toasting bagels on one side and broiling.  Some even have a convection mode.  That is where air is circulated by a fan in the oven to help food cook faster.

Counter-top Convection Toaster/Oven

I have a toaster/oven and love it.  It takes less time then the oven to heat up and start cooking because it is smaller.  That helps save on your energy bill each month.  You still need a larger oven for those times that you're making a big meal.  The toaster/oven is for doing small meals.

It works great for one or two people.  When my wife and I have some kind of Italian food for dinner, it is usually fixed on top of the stove.  However, we like garlic bread with the meal and don't want to heat up the big oven for just the bread.  That's where we will use the toaster/oven to broil our garlic bread.  As I said earlier, it is quicker and saves energy.  How can you lose?

A typical toaster/oven will range from $40 to $170.  I bought ours at my favorite place, Kohl's.  It is a Black & Decker stainless steel digital convection oven.  It sells for $89.99 but using some incentives from Kohl's, we got it for much less.  It gets used almost daily.

Tomorrow's blog will have the recipe for the garlic bread mentioned earlier in this blog.

Broiling, Another Cooking Technique

When you broil something it's similar to grilling.  The difference is that the direct heat you are using is coming from above in broiling as apposed to heat from below when grilling.  Another difference is the broiling is usually an indoor event whereas grilling is done mainly outdoors.

In broiling, you are placing your food, let's use a steak for the example, on a broiler pan and placing it under the broiler.  The broiler only has one temperature setting.  It is simply called broil.  The temperature is very much like high in grilling.  Just like baking in the oven, you need to wait for the broiler to reach its temperature before you put that steak under it.  It is also wise to have the broiler pan in place while the broiler is heating up.  Again as in grilling, you want the grates (in this case the broiler pan) to be hot so it sears the outside of the steak.  Even though you have the heat source coming from above and a very hot pan from below, the steak will need to be turned over to finish the broiling process.  Because of this, the steak will actually cook faster than if you grilled it.

Remember that you need to watch your food closely when broiling.  The high heat and closeness to that heat can cause food to burn quickly.

A broiler pan is composed of 2 pieces.  There is the bottom pan that catches all the unwanted juices/grease and holds the insert that you place the food on to cook.  The insert has slots in it that allows those unwanted juices/grease to drip away from the food as it cooks.  This, as in grilling, helps create a healthier cooking process to pan grilling or frying.  Both gas and electric ovens come with a broiler pan.

There are two pieces of equipment that usually having a broiling mode in them.  The first is your stove.  Depending on whether you have a gas or electric will determine the location of the broiler.  Typically a gas stove had its broiler at the bottom under the oven.  It is a separate location in the stove.  An electric oven has its broiler right in the oven.  It has an electrical coil at the top and bottom of the oven.  The top coil is for broiling.  You will need to usually raise the top rack in the oven to get it closer to that coil when broiling.  The reason for this is that broiling is placing the food close to the heat source.  In the case of broiling that is about 3 to 5 inches.

The second piece of equipment that usually has a broiler is a counter-top toaster/oven.  We'll talk about the toaster/oven tomorrow.

Cookbook Update

I guess things are starting to pick up as far as the cookbook and blog are concerned.  It was a week for local publicity on both the cookbook and blog.

I was interviewed by the local NPR radio station, KXCV.  It is located on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University.  They interviewed me about the upcoming cookbook and my blog site.  That interview aired several times on Thursday, May 19th.

I was also interviewed by the Nodaway News Leader, a weekly newspaper for the region.  They are doing a series on blogs and local bloggers.  I was one of the bloggers they featured in the series.  That article, I believe, should appear in the May 26th edition.

The 19th was a big day.  Besides the two items above, I heard from my layout editor.  He sent me the initial layout of the cookbook.  I reviewed the document and had several questions and concerns for my editor.  We talked by phone and discussed all the items on my list plus some additional ones.  All is set and I should have a final proof sometime in the first half of June.  I'm just waiting to see the back cover for the cookbook.  That should be any day.

Life is getting a little more exciting.  Tomorrow I'll touch on process of broiling food.

Refreshing Entrée Salad Recipe

Recipe:

Refreshing Entrée Salad

(4 servings)

Ingredients:

1 medium head Iceberg Lettuce
1 lb. Grilled Chicken Breast, cold and sliced
1 lb. Fresh Strawberries, hulled and each cut into 8 pieces
2 Fresh Ripe Pears, peeled, cored, sliced and each slice cut into thirds
2 tbsp. Salted Sunflower Kernels
1/4 cup Fresh Cilantro, chopped (optional)
as needed, Favorite Salad Dressing

Directions:

Take the lettuce and remove the core.  Place the lettuce under cold water core hole up and fill head of lettuce with the water.  Turn over and place in a colander to drain, about 10 minutes.  Now place the lettuce in a bowl or zip-lock bag and refrigerate at least two hours.  When ready to assemble the salads, cut the head of lettuce in half.  Slice each half into one inch slices in one direction and then do the same across the slices.  This should give you about one inch square pieces of lettuce.  Divide the lettuce equally on the four plates.  Equally divide the sliced chicken among the four plates and follow with the strawberries and pears.  Now take the sunflower kernels and cilantro (if using) and divide them over the salads.  Serve with your dressing and enjoy.

Note:  I would recommend using a raspberry vinaigrette or a poppy seed
             dressing.  I like using a dressing that is in the cookbook coming in
             September called "Jane's Dressing."  You'll have to try it once it is out.

Note:  You could use Romaine lettuce if you prefer.  I just think this salad
             works better with the cold iceberg.

Note:  The grilled chicken can be flavored if you like too.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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Grilling Season, cont.

Once you have a grill (we talked about them yesterday), you will need a few utensils to go with it.  You really only need four utensils to get by in using your grill.  Those four are; tongs, metal turner (hamburger flipper), basting brush and a wire brush for cleaning.  One utensil that should never be used in conjunction with your grill is a fork and any kind.  All a fork can do is pierce a food and let the natural juices out.  You don't want that when your grilling.  It makes your grilled food dry and dull.  You want your steaks, chicken, burgers, etc. nice and juicy.  You also want to let the food rest for a few minutes so the juices stay in the food and don't end up all over the plate.

That brings me to a pet peeve of mine.  Don't cook these items to well done.  That does the same thing as sticking a fork in them.  The food gets dry and tough.  You might as well just cut up your shoe and eat the shoe leather.  It would have as much taste.

You don't have to grill it rare or medium rare.  Try just grilling it to medium well with just a hint of pink.  When I had my own restaurant, I converted my well done customers to medium well.  If fact, many of them ended up closer to medium.

Back to the wire brush for a moment.  You want to use this brush each time before you grill and each time after.  The wire brush gets the cooked on food particles off the cook grate.  It helps keep the grates clean and  the food from sticking.  Another item that helps keep food from sticking is paper towels with a little oil on it.  Fold up the paper towel and add a little oil.  Then using the tongs, pick up the paper towel and run it back and forth over the grates before putting your food on to grill.

Make sure the grates are hot when you oil them and place your food.  All of this helps keep the food from sticking.  One of the eye pleasing aspects of grilling is the grill marks on the food.  To get beautiful grill marks, you need to the turn food over only a few times.  When you place the steak, for example, on the grill.  You want to lay it down so the grates are at an angle to the steak.  Here you want to let it grill until the grates have had enough time to make good bold marks.  This also helps in the steak not sticking because once those marks are boldly made the meat will release from the grates.  If you want a diamond pattern on your steak, pick it up and turn it a quarter turn and set back down.  Do the same to the other side too.  Your family or friends will think you're a pro.

Lighting a charcoal grill can be overwhelming for some.  Here are a few tips.  Know how much food you plan to grill and use the appropriate amount of charcoal briquettes.  Pile the briquettes up and use only an approved lighter fluid.  Never try gasoline, kerosene, etc. to light your fire.  That's for any kind of fire.  It will take between 20 and 40 minutes for the briquettes to reach the heat needed to grill.  Once the coals are white and have reached that heat level needed, spread them out so they are only one high.  Put the grate on the grill with the lid on and give it 5 to 10 minutes to heat up.  Remove the lid and wire brush the grate before continuing with your grilling.  If you're grilling something that takes a longer time, you may want to add a few more briquettes just before you put the food on.  This will extend the life of the fire.

Remember to be safe when working with any of these grills.  That is both personal safety and the safety of the area