These are better than drop biscuits. Why? The finished biscuits are round and attractive… much prettier than the misshapen lumps that are known as drop biscuits.
Biscuits
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 Tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled & cubed
1 1/2 cups 2% milk, approximate
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
Sift all dry ingredients. Use a thin bladed knife to cut shortening into flour. When large pebbly pieces are equally distributed, finish cutting in with a pastry cutter. Final crumbs should resemble fine gravel. Stir gently until just barely combined. The dough should be quite wet. (Similar to drop biscuit dough)
Pour dough onto well-floured board. Dust with more flour and form into a large 1″ thick round. Dust biscuit cutter with more flour and cut out biscuits. Use a thin metal spatula to transport biscuits to parchment covered baking sheet. Work quickly to form all of your biscuits. Immediately place in 500 degree oven. Bake for 6 minutes. Reduce heat to 450 and bake for an additional 15-16 minutes.
Trying to eat a sloppy joe in sandwich form is an exercise in futility. So, why not just pour some over home made biscuits and go at it with a knife and fork?
Sloppy Joe
serves at least 6
3 lbs ground beef
1 large onion, diced
3 shallots, diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 can tomato paste
1 teaspoon pasilla chili powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons molasses
splash red wine vinegar
Sweat onions and shallots. Add ground beef. Saute to light golden brown. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer 15-20 minutes.
Serve over home made biscuits.
(Or, toast thick slices of a crusty, rustic bread)
Meatloaf, red sauce, mashed potatoes and baby peas… is there a more comforting meal? And, somehow, it’s still all about the meatloaf sandwiches.
Scratch Tomato Sauce
4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup water
splash of red wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 bay leaf
1/4- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
salt, to taste
In a food processor, process 1 cup of tomatoes and water. Place processed tomatoes and all remaining ingredients in a large sauce pan. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Meatloaf
2 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon basil, powdered
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely chopped
1 jumbo egg
1 Tablelspoon tomato paste
1/2 cup Scratch Tomato Sauce (above)
Combine all ingredients. Mix by hand to combine. Form a loaf in a large baking dish. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Spoon off excess fat from baking dish and discard. Pour tomato sauce over meat loaf and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes or until meat loaf is cooked through in the center.
Collard Greens — Italian Style
This is a dish my Grandmother would have happily eaten as a meal (probably lunch) with a wedge of toasted Italian bread. She would’ve dished it up in a bowl with generous scoop of the broth. And, she would’ve served it alongside two bread baskets. One basket of bread would hold toasted & buttered bread. The other bread basket would hold a fresh loaf of Sicilian sesame bread simply sliced. The basket of Sicilian bread would sit on the dining room table all day… a quick snack to nibble throughout the day.
Collard Greens
one huge pot
2 large bunches of collard greens, well washed
olive oil, as needed
2 onions, roughly diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
4-5 garlic cloves, sliced
3-4 Roma tomatoes, diced
6-8 cups chicken stock
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
splash red wine vinegar
olive oil, the best you own
Separate stalk and stems from collards. Cut the stems into a small dice. Place in a bowl. Set aside. Slice leafy greens into a 1″ strips. Place in a large bowl and set aside.
Saute onions to a light gold in a healthy drizzle of olive oil. Then, add carrots, collard stems, celery, and garlic. Saute for a few additonal minutes. Then, add tomatoes, collard leaves, chicken stock, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and a splash of vinegar. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
Before serving, drizzle with a stream of the best olive oil you have on hand.
This is, without a doubt, the best sweet nibble to accompany your espresso.
Anise Biscotti
2 1/4 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon anise seed, freshly ground
1/4 cup light & fruity olive oil
Pearl sugar, to sprinkle on top
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift dry ingredients. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, anise, and olive oil until light and fluffy. Then, gently stir in dry ingredients. Place dough on a baking sheet covered in parchment and shape into a long, flat strip of dough. If the dough is sticky, use parchment to flatten. Sprinkle the top of dough with pearl sugar.
Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. When golden, slice into strips and return to the oven. Bake at 300 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely before storing.
There are two styles of bread pudding. There’s the creamy custardy type with chunks of identifiable bread. The other type is a dense, heavy (bordering on clunky) style that can be sliced into wedges. I enjoy both. The denser, sliceable style opens itself up to a number of sauce options. Warmed compote, sabayon, whisky sauce, and chocolate sauce would top my list of favorites. But, a simple dusting of powdered sugar works, too.
When it comes to chocolate bread pudding, the soft creamy comforting custard style wins the battle every time. But, when it comes to a raisin pudding. The dense version slides into the picture. It allows a sprinkling of bread crumbs and granulated sugar to hover on top and bake into an effortless crumb-like topping.
Rum Raisin Bread Pudding
4 cups fresh bread crumbs, processed to thick crumbs
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk (or 2%)
1 heaping cup of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup raisins, plumped in rum
Topping
1/4 cup bread crumbs (coarsely processed, if desired)
1/4 cup sugar
drizzle of light olive oil
Combine all ingredients (including up to 1/4 cup of the soaking rum) in a large mixing bowl. Allow the mixture to sit while you preheat the oven.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (approximately 10 minutes)
In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients and stir to combine. Pour bread pudding mixture into a buttered casserole dish. Top with crumb topping mixture. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the center is firm to the touch.
Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon.
(Or, with one of the sauces mentioned above)
It’s what’s for breakfast! (on special occasions)
Freshly ground Mexican cinnamon and nutmeg are the secret to this recipe. The fragrance is surprisingly rich even with the relatively small amounts used.
Next time, I’ll experiment with buttermilk in lieu of the yogurt.
Crumb Cake
one square baking dish
Crumb Topping:
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, Mexican, freshly ground
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine all ingredients and stir briefly… just long enough to create crumbs. Set aside.
Cake Batter:
1 1/4 cups AP flour
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter (one stick)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup creamy style vanilla yogurt
Butter 9×9 inch baking dish. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sift the first 4 ingredients together. Set aside. Cream sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla. Add yogurt and whip vigorously. Sift in dry mixture and stir gently to combine all ingredients. Pour cake batter into prepared baking dish. Then, using your fingers sprinkle crumb topping over the top.
Bake at 325 degrees for 35-38 minutes.
Braised Pork Chops with Tomato & Peppers
1 large can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
4-5 green & red sweet peppers
1 large onion, diced
olive oil, as needed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2″ to 1″ pork chops (or, substitute country style ribs)
In a large dutch oven, saute onion with olive oil. When golden, add all remaining ingredients. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and continue to simmer gently for 10-15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large baking dish, place pork chops (evenly spaced). After 10-15 minutes, pour sauce over pork chops and place in the preheated oven. Cook for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size & thickness of your pork chops.
Serve with toasted wedges of a good crusty bread.
This is a lovely quick bread with a dense texture similar to pound cake. But, it’s quite tart… by design. I love the sweet-tart aspect of lemon bars. So, my intent was to mimic that in a cake. Some might find it to be too tart. So, consider this fair warning.
Key Lime Quick Bread
one loaf
13 Tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 jumbo eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice
1 – 2 teaspoons key lime zest
2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and butter one 5″ x 10″ loaf pan.
In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Set aside. In a smaller bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir vigorously with a fork. Sift the first half of the mixture into the creamed mixture. Beat just enough to combine. Next, add key lime juice and zest. Beat briefly. Add the last portion of the flour mixture and beat gently to combine.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 60-65 minutes.
Usually, I avoid any recipe included in product packaging. But, when that product is imported, I’m drawn to read every bit of the label. Once again, that inclination was rewarded with this fabulous recipe for Nero di Seppia. The meal and preparation take on an added charm when that translation is quite loose. In this case, a touch of additional translation/interpretation was needed.
Dry pasta & other ingredients from: Alon’s
Or, For More Recipes From Tanda & Spada click here.
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