Cookie Project part 1

A couple of the recipes that I'm planning on doing for Christmas call for decent quantities of crystallized ginger, and I don't know why, but I'm having a slight problem locating it. Also, if you try to find it online, it seems to be ridiculously expensive. But since crystallizing ginger is pretty much the same as candying things, and since I have candying skills, I decided to make my own, and made about 3/4 lb. of it.

Since the ginger I had wasn't young ginger, thinly slicing it with a santoku knife wasn't working really well. The ginger was far too fibrous. I wound up using a vegetable peeler to slice the ginger, and it worked quite well.

This ginger is going to be used in Triple Ginger Cookies and Gingerbread Cookies. Whatever's left will probably just be eaten plain or put into hot tea. Another awesome thing about candying things? Syrups! I have a jar of lemon syrup in my fridge from some lemon peel I did awhile ago, and now I've got a jar of ginger syrup that I can use to spice up delicious alcoholic beverages.

Crystallized Ginger
3/4 lb. fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
3 c. sugar, plus more for coating, if desired
3 c. water

Place ginger slices in a large pot. Cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Drain, and repeat.

Add the sugar and 3 cups of water to the pot. Cook until temperature reaches 210F.

Remove from heat and let stand, one hour. If you're coating the slices, draing the syrup and toss slices in sugar. Shake off any excess sugar. For either, place slices on cooling racks overnight until dry.

To get myself more in the Christmas spirit, I've also decided that each portion of the cookie project will coincide with a viewing of some sort of holiday related programming. Today, I watched a Christmas episode of 'The Twilight Zone' from 1960. The episode, entitled "Night of the Meek". It's about a drunk department store Santa with a magical sack that turns garbage into presents!! It was completely uninspired and features one of the worst fake beards I've ever seen. You can check it here.

Or if you like horribly botched conversion and dubbing, you can check it below:

Watch 11. The Twilight Zone - The Night of the Meek in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Thanksgiving was amazing. Serious blogging activate

Well, I did mean for my Thanksgiving post to be lovely and filled with pictures, but when it came down to it, I was too exhausted and hungry to spend time taking pictures of everything I made. And I did make a lot.

What's funny is that most of the recipes were pulled from cooking magazines I've been collecting, but the dish that seemed to go over the best, and the one that everyone had to have seconds of, is an old standby of my grandma's.

While it might not sound too charming, it is delicious, and has been pretty much my favorite holiday food since I was a wee child.

Good old macaroni and cheese with corn. It's the easiest thing ever. Take a pound of uncooked pasta (preferably shells). Dump it into a 13*9*2 baking dish. Add 2 cans creamed corn, and 1 can corn kernels (drained). Add 2 sticks of butter, cut into tablespoons, and 1.5 lb processed cheese foodstuff (aka Velveeta), cubed. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Works wonders. I made it for a cookout we had over the summer. Everyone was quite skeptical about it at first, after they saw me putting it together, but once they tried it, they were in love. Unfortunately, there usually aren't ever any leftovers.

But anyway, seriously blogging project. I've been having a pretty horrid time with cookies lately. I didn't use to have this problem, but whenever I bake them now, it's just a disaster. With Christmas season coming up, I'm planning on getting back on track with baking, and to do so I'm working through all the Christmas cookies in the December issues of Bon Appetit for the last two years (with the exception of the coconut macaroons, because I made them last year), 9 cookies=9 circles of hell.

It's going to happen.

I Made a Roast for the First Time

Just goes to show how much your palate changes over the course of time, I suppose. I really disliked roast growing up. Don't know why, just something I was not into. I found a recipe a while back for a roast, and something in my head decided it sounded pretty damned wonderful. Magic ensued.

This was my roast after I rubbed salt and pepper into it. A 2 pound boneless chuck eye roast. I got it on sale (I feel the need to note this, because I am a cheap ass about purchasing meat). I think it looks like a damn fine piece of beef.

Roast Beef with Coffee Gravy

Adapted from this recipe
1 2 lb beef chuck roast, fat trimmed
fresh ground pepper
kosher salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large onion, sliced
2 bay leaves
1 c. baby bella mushrooms, rinsed and quarterd
1 can beef broth
2 c. fresh brewed coffee
2 Tbsp. flour

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Rub salt and pepper into beef. Let sit 10 minutes. Heat oil in a large skillet. Brown beef on all sides. Move to baking pan. Add onions and mushrooms to skillet and saute, two to three minutes.

Add bay leaves, beef broth, and coffee to skillet. Bring to a simmer. Add to roast in baking dish. Cover and roast for 3.5 to 4 hours, until tender. Remove the roast from the pan.

Strain juices through a mesh strainer and into a skillet, discarding any solids. Add gravy to skillet and boil, about five minutes until thickened. Strain once more before serving.

I am not generally a beef gravy kind of person, but this gravy has made me a believer. It was amazing, especially when sopped up with crusty French bread.