Vlog:
A few days ago, I went to Wal*Mart and got so excited when I saw the produce section! They just put out all sorts of new fruits and vegetables :D I bought a whole pineapple, jicama, and some fresh parsley! What is a jicama? It is often called a "spanish potato" and stays super crunchy! It is used alot to make some killer slaw. Anyways, I haven't used the jicama yet. I will find a purpose soon! If you just watched my vlog, you will see that I cut my pineapple! It is very simple, but takes some work. Take a look at the video, if you haven't already!
Everytime I go to the grocery store, I almost always buy a baguette. They are so versatile in their use and SO delicious! While in Chicago, I found a great cookbook from Europe that had a ton of bread recipes in it. The recipe that really caught my eye was for the baguettes! Who would of thought to make their own baguette? Not I. I have put it off for a long time, and this week, I finally did it. It wasn't extremely hard, but required a lot of time. The mix all your ingredients and knead, and knead, and knead. Then rise for a long time, shapes, rise some more, and then bake. Bake, sounds easy, right? WRONG! You have to keep spraying water on the oven walls to get a chewy crust. I don't have an extra spray bottle, so I had to fling water by hand. The smoke alarm went off numerous times... Very caveman/rustic, I know :p The labor was well worth it, though! Just look:
The baguettes as they bake!
The finished product! Yum! The baguette was used later, keep reading for details!
While I was reading the recipe for my baguettes, I stumbled upon another recipe. Brioche à tête is the name of this next baked good. It is a buttery french bread, not to sweet, and is really good! I was reading the recipe and it says "place dough in Brioche pans." What is a Brioche pan? I had no clue either. After some research, I found out that I was in possession of 20 of them! Nana, my grandmother, had given me some of the kitchen gadgets that my great-grandmother, Allie Grimes, had owned and used. For a long time, I thought they were mini tartlet pans. Apparently, they are not, lol. Here is a Brioche pan:
This is quite possible the hardest recipe that I have ever attempted. It is so labor-intensive and takes FOREVER! You mix all the ingredients and the dough is super dense... I almost killed my Kitchenaid trying to knead it. Since my mixer couldn't knead it, I had to by hand for about 30 minutes. You aren't only kneading, but you are slowly working in margarine, too! It was so messy in the beginning. Toward the end of the kneading, it was smooth and elastic as it should be, but took a lot of work. You then have to let it rise for TWO hours! Then knead and shape into balls to place in pans. Luckily, the rising made it much easier to work with, as my arms were just about dead, lol! Once placed in pans, you take a smaller ball and place it on top by taking a skewer and puncturing through both balls, quite a neat trick! You finish by glazing with cream and egg yolk.
The Brioche before the oven
It then rises some more and you bake. It comes out almost pastry like on the outside, but soft like bread on the inside. Very interesting. Very good, too. Many people couldn't eat just one, lol. Here is the finished product:
The Brioche à tête
I also made a loaf of Brioche :D
Tonight, I made a very special dinner for my friends! I love cooking dinner for other people, great way to test out recipes! A little under a week ago, Rachael and I bought a thing of fresh spinach and only used a small portion of it. I was considering what we could do with the remainder when she came up with a brilliant idea, Spinach Dip! I did my recipe research and came up with a very good one! It is a tweaked version of something I found off of Allrecipes.com. The recipe will be posted at the end of this blog! Spinach Dip, woo, what's so new about that for you, Josh? Two words: Artichoke Hearts. Rachael and I went to Wal*Mart and found fresh Artichoke, so we thought "Hey! This would be so easy to cut and be cheaper!" This was the artichoke we bought:
Artie the Artichoke
Was it easy! NOT ONE BIT! I looked for over an hour on youtube for ways to cut the dang thing. Everyone had a different way and no one gave a definite answer as to what the heart was. I basically had to go at it blindly and figure out for myself what the heart was... Big mess, just look.
Where's the heart? No one knows!
I finally found what I though was the heart and threw it into the dip. No one complained, so I am assuming that was the heart, lol. Big mess, next time, I will buy the precut hearts. A
After the artichoke chaos, the dip was super easy to make! It took a couple of trial runs to make perfect, but it was the hit of dinner!
Spinach Dip w/ Tortillas & Baguette Slices(I toasted these later)
To go with my dinner of Hamburger Helper... *SIRENS* *ANGRY MOB APPEARS* ... WAIT! I can explain! I know box dinners are forbidden, but one of the people who was coming had requested it. I never turn down a request(legal ones)! So, I did it, but I added a few spices, which totally made it taste AMAZING! They couldn't believe it was hamburger helper :p Anywho, back to the original sentence. I made dinner rolls to go with my dinner. Just dinner rolls? OF COURSE NOT! I made Sourdough Oatmeal Rolls! "Oatmeal in rolls, Josh? You are crazy!" Trust me! It was great! Very good texture and flavor! It has honey and molasses in them, too! It isn't sweet, just adds hints of those flavors, which really makes them amazing! Look for yourself at these wonderful rolls...
Here are pics from the dinner:
Appetizer:
Spinach Dip on Toasted Baguette Slices
Main Course:
Gourmet Hamburger Helper, Sourdough Oatmeal Rolls, and Peas!
We were all full after that, so no dessert, lol :p
Here is a treat for you, though! There is a youtube video going around of people popping popcorn with their cellphones. Well, a few of us at work got curious and here is what happened:
MYTH BUSTED!
Wow, and the award for longest blog ever goes to... JOSHUA ALAN BURGIN! There was a lot to cover in this entry! I hope you enjoyed everything! A special thank you to Mallory Phillips for a wonderful dinner of Mexican Shells the other night! I believe that is it for this edition of my blog. Until next time, have a good night and tomorrow!
Spinach Dip:
Ingredients:
5 oz fresh de-stemmed spinach
1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
2 cloves garlic -minced
1/2 cup fat-free mayo
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
2 1/2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and transfer to baking dish.
Place in oven for about 15 minutes or until all cheese has melted.
Enjoy!
Easy, right? So good!
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