Tag Archives: baked

Sea Salt Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

You Mean Black Tar Heroin Bars?

Full disclosure: these gems don’t even pretend to be good for you.  But alas, sometimes you just need a little trouble to get by.  Though I am far more salty than sweet, this recipe is the perfect amalgamation of all that I love in a good dessert.  The usual suspects of butter, vanilla, chocolate chips and brown sugar are all present, but what makes this one truly special are the flecks of sea salt crowning the golden bars.  Once you mix the majesty together, sprinkle some sea salt for good measure, and bake, you are treated to fudgy decadence.  Gooey, salty-sweet glory that you will scrape out of the pan to steal bite after bite.

Salty Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars. Photo © Angela Gunder (Spice or Die).

Continue reading Sea Salt Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

Herbed Focaccia with Caramelized Onions

Recipe for The Daring Kitchen
Peta, of the blog Peta Eats, was our lovely hostess for the Daring Cook’s September 2011 challenge, Stock to Soup to Consommé. We were taught the meaning between the three dishes, how to make a crystal clear consommé if we so chose to do so, and encouraged to share our own delicious soup recipes!
Good bread, and I mean the kind that meets the rigorous demands of the title of penultimate comfort food, makes me get into all sorts of trouble. A perfectly crusty on the outside, airy on the inside baguette goes from obsession to nonexistence in a matter of seconds. A poblano cheddar loaf is devoured methodically, each hunk slathered with honey butter to offset the piquant chiles. And a fluffy square of toothsome focaccia worth making out with – that, my darlings, is where it’s at. Correction – where I’m at. Continue reading Herbed Focaccia with Caramelized Onions

Ange’s Lazy Chicken Cordon Bleu

I have lovely memories of my mom’s baked chicken parmesan – we’d come home from elementary school and she’s take seemingly no time in breading chicken cutlets, seasoning them with paprika and spices, and then letting them crisp up in a hot oven.  They were always so juicy and deliciously perfect, I never ever questioned why we didn’t have Shake ‘n Bake in our pantry.  Mom knew what she was doing (and still does!)

After I got married, my aunt gave me a convection oven as a wedding present and I had to see if the crisping action was all it cracked up to be.  I made a riff off of my mom’s baked chicken with dijon and cream replacing the usual parmesan cheese.  Then, to make things more complicated, I tricked it out deconstructed cordon bleu style with a slice each of prosciutto and provolone. 

When the timer went off and the chicken emerged from the oven, the clouds parted in the heavens and the angels began to sing.  It was ever so perfect, with prosciutto like bacon and “everything’s-better-with” melted cheese.  J’adore!

I kind of like that Chicken Cordon Bleu has nothing to do with the culinary institute and is rather a cousin of retro throwbacks such as Chicken Kiev and other roulade-style meat dishes.  It makes me feel like I need to tease my hair, put on an A-line skirt and play a little Jack Jones “Wives and Lovers” to get in an old skool mood.  Ok, not really.  But it does make me miss my momma, thinking about all the foods that are meant for family dining.  This one is certainly high up on the list.

Recipe for

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. of cream
1/4 c. of water
1 tbs. of dijon mustard
1 c. of flour
3 tsp. of salt
1 1/2 tsp. of black pepper
1/2 tsp. of white pepper
1/2 tsp. of garlic powder
1/4 tsp. of paprika
4 slices of prosciutto
4 slices of provolone (or fontina)

Set up a breading station with two shallow dishes – one with the eggs, cream, water and dijon and the other with the flour, salt, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder and paprika.  Dredge chicken breasts in flour, into the egg and then again in the flour.  Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and top with a slice of cheese and a few slices of prosciutto.  Bake for 35-40 minutes on 350° or until the chicken is cooked through and the prosciutto is crispy and deep rose.  Serve.

Baked Ham with Rosemary Hurricane Glaze

I’m Pretty Sure the Holiday Ham is Drunk Again

Easter is all about the celebration of Spring (new birth, resurrection, lilies and the like), which is why lamb is such a popular dish.  If you want to go old school, my money is on a classic smoked ham with a sweet, crackling crust.  In fact, I am going to play Neil Diamond’s “Cracklin’ Rosie” as I type this post.  *singing* Bakin’ it sloooooow.

This is straight out of my memories of childhood – Dad would get the Smithfield smoked hams from the grocery for Easter or Christmas and bake them to perfection.  Occasionally, my mom would chuck a few oranges in the baking pan and stud the thing with cloves to keep it spicy and ever so juicy.  Then, after cooking and a good rest on the counter, my Dad would carve with an electric knife (that’s now been upgraded to a super sharp butcher’s knife that he sharpens right before slicing) and give my sister (then a meat eater) and I a slice before serving.  Now, the only ones around clamoring for an early slice of ham are their pug and puggle, Bentley and Chloe.

This ham is straight-forward, but the glaze is a little different.  It gets the name “hurricane” from the Creole-inspired ingredients – it’s the juice and booze that make up the traditional New Orleans drink of the same name.  I add brown mustard, bay leaves, cloves and rosemary and boil the concoction down to a thick syrup that bathes the ham in the last hour of cooking.  I gave you the ingredients for making the glaze as a standalone, but when I do it at home, I double the glaze ingredients and brine the ham in them overnight.  This sweetens the ham and desalts in a bit.  Then, I take the brining liquid and cook it down to make the glaze.  It’s very good this way, but if you don’t feel like wasting that much rum on glaze (as opposed to drinking) just follow the steps as I’ve listed them below.

I serve this ham with the accompaniments of my childhood as well (and this is via our neighbor who usually makes these sides) – scalloped potatoes and spinach salad with red onion and hard-boiled eggs.  Because I need a little more greenery on my plate, I like to roast some asparagus spears as well.  It doesn’t get any more spring-y than that.

Baked Ham with Rosemary Hurricane Glaze

1 smoked ham (around 8 lbs.)
1 c. of orange juice (blood orange or clementine work well)
1 c. of pineapple juice
1/2 c. of grenadine or hibiscus syrup
1/2 c. of brown sugar
1 c. of rum
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of ground cloves
2 tbs. of brown mustard
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 small bunch of sage
pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 325°.  Fit a v-shaped roasting rack over a roasting pan and line with sage and one sprig of rosemary.  Sit ham on top of herbs and put into the oven.  Plan to bake the ham for about 20-25 minutes per pound (my oven runs hot, so I cook mine closer to 20 minutes per lb. to keep it from drying out)

While the ham is cooking, make your glaze.  Pour the orange juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, sugar, rum, bay leaves, cloves, mustard, and the rest of the rosemary into a large saucepan (or if you are cooking down the brine that you used on the ham, use a large pot) and bring to a boil.  Continue to cook until the liquid reduces to a cup and a half.  Strain and set aside.

When the ham only has about 45 minutes left to cook, take it out of the oven.  Pour the glaze over the top.  Return the ham to the oven and continue to bake.  When the ham is done, let rest at least 10 minutes before carving so that the juices have time to redistribute.  Slice and serve.