Wherein the Rabbit Plans a Menu

Hare here.

So I'll be cooking dinner Saturday for Ox and a few of our friends, which I haven't done in a while. I've got most of it in mind – pot roast, gravy, coca cola rice – but I'm not entirely certain what I want to do for the vegetables. The rice itself is a bit sweet, so my sides don't need to be. I kinda want to do something with onions. Like, maybe...

Onions au Gratin

Serves 6

3 large onions, sliced
¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
¼ cup melted butter or margarine
¼ cup self rising flour
1 cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine onions, ½ cup of the mozzarella, butter, flour, milk, and salt in a large bowl and mix well.

Spoon onion mixture into an ungreased medium baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese and bread crumbs over the top.

Bake casserole until cheese is melted and bread crumbs are browned, about 30 minutes.

Source: Easy Everyday Cooking Recipe Cards

...or do I want to do something green? I do have green beans from Mom's garden. Or do I want to do something else, like..

Broccoli a la Brava

Serves 4

5 cups small broccoli florets (from about 1 large head)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
¼ teaspoon mild red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon grated lime zest

Prepare the broccoli: you can steam it in a steamer insert set over boiling water, covered, for 3 to 5 minutes or until it is just cooked but still crisp, or you can blanch it in a large pot of boiling salted water for 5 – 7 minutes until it is crisp-tender. Transfer the cooked broccoli to a large bowl and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium low heat for 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute, then stir in the red pepper flakes and Worcestershire sauce. Add the broccoli to the skillet and toss together to marry the flavors. Serve sprinkled with lime zest.

Source: Simply Delicioso © 2008 Ingrid Hoffman

...or do I perhaps want to do something completely different?

Think, think, think.

Arroz con Coca Cola (Coca Cola Rice)

One day not too long ago, I had a hankerin' for pot roast. What I didn't really feel like, though, was the usual fixins that you get with pot roast. Not that there's anything wrong with carrots, potatoes, celery and onions that have been bathing in a nice, beefy broth for hours on end, slowly roasting to perfection. Or with a pot of egg noodles boiled in beef broth and ladled with a big helping of gravy. These are both delicious.

But on this particular day, I wanted neither.

So, I turned to the bookcase of cookbooks, or my "cookcase" if you will. I was having a pot roast, and I was going to make a gravy. Didn't want potatoes, didn't want noodles. I flipped idly through my cookbooks, and stopped on a likely suspect, a Latin dish called Coca Cola Rice.

So I gave it a shot. And with the roast, and the gravy, it was delicious.

Arroz Con Coca Cola / Coca Cola Rice

Serves 4 to 6

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups long grain white rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups cola
1/4 cup raisins
3 tablespoons sliced or slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add the rice and cook, stirring often, until it is opaque, roughly 2 minutes.

add teh salt tot eh cola and stir until dissolved - the salt helps release some of the carbonation. Add the cola to teh rice along with 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated, roughly 15 minutes. Stir in the raisins and almonds and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cover and cook until the rice is tender, about 25 minutes. Uncover, fluff with fork, and serve.

Source: Simply Delicioso, © 2008 Ingrid Hoffman

Notes from the Hare

I can attest to this dish being delicious even if you didn't actually have any raisins or almonds to add to it.

I made this with plain old Coca Cola, but Most any kind of cola would do - and depending on what you use, would probably alter the the taste of the final product. If I were serving this with a ham, I would probably use Dr. Pepper.

I might also consider playing with the add-ins - if I used Cherry Coke, for example, I might use dried cherries instead of raisins.

In the book, this is suggested as a perfect accompaniment with any slow roasted pork or beef dish.

Glazed Plum Cake

Let’s have a little story, shall we?

Once upon a time, when the Hare was trying to work out how he was going to have a good collection of recipes without having to transport a few hundred pounds of cookbooks every time he moved, he got an offer in the mail for a set of recipe cards – a set called, specifically, Easy Everyday Cooking.  There were a couple of sample cards in the packet, and the hare looked these over and considered.  “Some of these recipes look tasty,”  he thought to himself.  But there will probably be a bunch that I won’t use.”

“Well, hang on,”  Hare said to himself.  “It’s probably more likely to say there will be a bunch you wouldn’t eat.  If someone were to ask for a recipe for something like that, you would still have one.  And it’s not like you will deny cooking something for someone just because you yourself can’t or won’t eat it.”

“That’s true,”  Hare thought.  And he decided to get the card set, for at least a little while.  Several hundred cards later, he was right – there were a lot of recipes he would never make just for himself, but if anyone asked, he’d be more than willing to make anything in the set.  So all in all, it was a wise decision.

For anyone curious, not that isn’t how my thought processes go.  Not exactly anyway.  I tend to discuss things in committee more than just one on one.

Anyway – the recipe cards have been useful over the years, and to this day I have not been able to cook everything that I want to try.  Today’s cake is an excellent example – I will make this one day.  I just don’t know when.

 

Glazed Plum Cake

Serves 16

 

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 sticks of butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

4 eggs

1 can purple plums, drained, cut into halves (30 ounces)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup plum jelly, melted

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9 inch tube pan.  Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar (the 1 1/2 cups worth), and lemon peel with an electric mixer until fluffy.

 

Add eggs to the large bowl one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended, about 1 minute.

 

Spoon batter into prepared pan.  Arrange plums over teh batter, round sides up.  Sprinkle with teh lemon juice, sugar (the 2 tablespoons worth) and cinnamon.

 

Bake until cake is golden brown, about 40 minutes.  Cool, then invert cake onto a plate.  Drizzle half the melted jelly over the cake, and serve the remaining jelly alongside.

 

Source:  Easy Everyday Cooking Recipe Cards

 

Notes from the Hare

Can’t find the plums at the grocery store, or are they just a bit too pricey?  Use peaches instead – fresh or canned – and drizzle with peach jelly or preserves.

Add about half a teaspoon of almond extract to the batter and sprinkle sliced or slivered almonds on top of the cake before baking for a nutty twist.

Top Chef - Another Bites the Butter

I was really surprised this week to see Tiffany was cut from the final five.  Of all of the chefs on the show, Tiffany and Kevin's appears to be the ones I would most try.  I was really rooting for her, but when the judges were upset over the NASA dish's sauce I had a bad feeling. 

The final four are now heading off to Singapore for one final elimination and then the finale!  Wow!  This season has really had its ups and downs! 

Angelo appears to have his cooking mojo back, which is a surprise as well.  Who do you believe will win the finale now?  All of my favorites, except for Tiffany are in the finals now (except for Angelo).  Perhaps Angelo is the dark horse that is going to win everything?