Friday Food: Experimental Dutch Pie

Friday 

Short version: Ram chops, leftover chicken, rice, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I had actually cooked these ram chops the day before when I had grilled pork chops and chicken, just because there was still a lot of heat still in the coals and I had the ram chops mostly thawed already. I only seasoned them with salt when they were on the grill, so to re-heat them, I put them in a skillet with barbecue sauce.

Saturday

Short version: Pizzas with ranch dip, apple crisp with cream

Long version: Bread baking day, on which I almost always steal some of the dough to make something else. This time, that something was two half-sheet-pan pizzas: one just cheese, one with pepperoni and pickled onions.

I had to leave just before the pizzas were ready to take out of the oven to pick up a child, so I left A. to take them out and serve them. This is why there was no vegetable.

I spent literally an hour and a half peeling, coring, and slicing apples to make two apples crisps and one pan of baked apples. I ended up with an actual blister on my right index finger from the paring knife*, but I figured I'm just working on developing my apple callous. A worthwhile callous to have.

The smaller crisp was for my friend who watched our three children when I was out of town and A. had to do something for work.

I over-processed the topping in the food processor, and I almost scorched them when I stuck them under the broiler at the end, but they were still delicious.

That much butter, sugar, and spices will cover a multitude of mistakes.

Sunday

Short version: Ground beef and bean burritos, cucumbers, cake

Long version: I had more ambitious plans for the ground beef I thawed--meatloaf, which is, yes, not all that ambitious--but then it was hot and I didn't want to run the oven. So instead I made the quick 'n' lazy burrito filling of beef+canned beans+salsa+spices.

The cake was actually the Bonnie Butter cake I entered into the fair. The judges only taste a very small bit, and then we pick it up at the end. I stuck in the freezer to use later, which I did this night by layering it with strawberry jam and whipped cream. This cake makes a superior shortcake, although I thought this combination was a little too sweet. It needed less sugar in the whipped cream, and probably something a bit more tart with the strawberries, like rhubarb. 

Monday

Short version: Chicken, corn bread, tomato salad, ice cream

Long version: I found frozen fancy organic, free-range chicken breasts on deep discount at the store awhile ago, so I bought several packages for the freezer. I used two of them this night. This is a lot of chicken. Ten pieces, to be precise.

I went to the effort of pounding them thinner with my rolling pin, figuring they would cook faster that way. They were all salted and seasoned with garlic powder and paprika before being browned in a skillet and then finished in the oven with barbecue sauce while the cornbread was baking.

Two seared, eight to go.

A few minutes into eating, A. asked me where I got the chicken. This always means there's something wrong with it. He told me it tasted strongly of bleach or detergent. One child agreed it tasted funny. The rest of us had no idea what he was talking about. I didn't taste anything off--except that I oversalted them--even when I tasted his piece.

He insisted that no one should eat it, though, so we didn't. I did not throw it out, however, instead waiting to see if any of us had a bad reaction to it. No one did, and A. later realized that he had used his nasal spray for allergies just before dinner, so that was probably interfering with his sense of taste.

I also added a bit too much milk to the cornbread, so it was too soft. Overall, not the most successful meal. That's the way it goes sometimes.

The tomato salad was really good, though. As was the ice cream I let everyone have as a reward for getting through the first day of school.

Tuesday

Short version: Re-combined leftovers, cheese quesadillas, radishes, big oatmeal-raisin cookies

Long version: There was a lot of the too-soft cornbread left, which I crumbled up and fried in lard before adding to it the rest of the taco meat, plus the rest of the grated cheese left from the burrito toppings. This looked like it might not be enough for everyone, which is why I quickly made a couple of quesadillas with flour tortillas.

Another of my very photogenic offerings.

I made the cookies for the younger children's school snacks. When I make oatmeal-raisin cookies, I always make at least one really big cookie for everyone. A. remembers these from his childhood, and for some reason, even those who are not fans of raisin cookies will eat them in a giant form. I make them about the size of hamburger patties when I form them. They spread when they bake, so they end up being very large cookies, indeed.

Wednesday

Short version: More leftovers

Long version: I'm not even working, and here I am serving leftovers like I'm coming home from a long day. Mostly that's because I do not waste food, so yes, leftovers will still feature in my kitchen even if I have the time to make something new every day.

This time a couple of people had the leftover taco meat+cornbread, to which I added some of the rice I had made, and everyone else had the leftover chicken, plus some rice.

A. tried the chicken again to see if it really was the allergy spray, and we all watched avidly as he took a bite. "Tastes like chicken," he said. Alrighty then.

I had one my collard salads that repel the rest of my family so much:

With chicken, tomatoes, feta, and apple.

Thursday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, mashed potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, Dutch apple pie with whipped cream

Long version: I have never made a Dutch apple pie before. It's an apple pie with a pie crust on the bottom, and a kind of streusel on the top. Half my family loves pie and half loves crisp, so I thought this might be a good compromise. I kind of used this recipe, except I didn't use the pie crust recipe and I didn't measure anything for the apple filling.

I baked the meatballs in the morning while the pie was baking.

Dinner and dessert.

I should have made the potatoes earlier and just re-heated them at dinner time as well, so I wasn't boiling a big pot of potatoes and water when it was already hot in the kitchen, but I didn't. Oh well.

The pie was delicious. I liked it way better than regular apple pie. I don't often take the trouble to make pie because it is an investment of time, particularly apple pies that require all the peeling, coring, and slicing of apples. These apples needed to be cooked even longer than the hour the pie was baking--this is common with the varieties of apples we tend to get here, which are very firm and somewhat dry--so if I make it again, I'll par-cook the apples before making the filling.

It would have been better with ice cream, but the only ice cream I had on hand was mint chocolate chip. With apple pie? No, thank you.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

* I had done the same thing the previous two days as I worked on getting apple slices in the freezer, so it's really more like six hours of working with a paring knife that will raise a blister, I guess.