Aromatic Automatic Rice Pudding

Featured Ingredient: Evaporated Milk

This is my second attempt at this pudding.  I thought fragrant basmati rice would make a great base for a rice pudding. Inspired by a Indian savory rice dish, I omitted the savory ingredients and balanced the pudding with sweet coconut flavor, the spice of cinnamon and fresh citrusy orange zest. Plus a few plumped up golden raisins for additional texture.

The last time I made this the flavor was good, but the pudding ended up more like a risotto. I figure OK.  Make the pudding and cook the rice simultaneously but separately -- then add together.  What I got was the creaminess of a pudding married with tender grains of rice.  Total cooking time from start to finish about 22 minutes.

Aromatic Rice Pudding - Serves 3

Make the pudding:
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tbsp plus 2 1/2 tsps cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup plus 3 tbsp whole milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp coconut extract
1/4 cup golden raisins

Whisk first three dry ingredients in a medium saucepan. Add milk, whisk together.  Turn on to medium heat While mixture warms up continue whisking until bubbly and thickened.  Make sure the mixture is a little thinner than standard pudding as you are going to add rice to it. Remove from heat stir in butter until melted.  Stir in coconut extract and raisins.

Make the rice:
1/3 cup basmatic rice
5 oz. can of Evaporated Milk (add enough water to come up to 1 cup of liquid)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated orange zest

Heat milk and water until it just starts to boil, you don't want to scald the milk, immediately turn to low and stir in rice.  Let simmer on low for about 15 minutes.  Check doneness of rice and add water if needed, if all the liquid has been absorbed. Cook another 5 minutes until tender. Remove from heat, stir in cinnamon and orange zest.

Put them together:

Put rice into the pudding. If you want a creamier texture add less rice if you love want more texture add all rice.

Aromatic Rice Pudding

This is linked to Melt in your Mouth Mondays on:
Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

Chicken Fried Steak with Creamy Beef Gravy

Featured Ingredients: Evaporated Milk, Beef Broth

I participated in a webinar the other day sponsored by the IACP (Institute of Culinary Professionals) on 10 things every food writer should know.  I could stand to learn more than 10 things but I thought it would be a good start.  The guest speaker was Dorothy Kalins the founder of Saveur Magazine.  One of the topics discussed was about honoring and glorifying the home cook vs the rock star chef.  Simply put, the home cook prepares meals differently than a chef does.  The knife skills may be more rustic, the ingredients are familiar, but the flavors can be just as good and the meal a lot more comforting.  We can all stand to benefit from home cooking, by selecting our own ingredients, limiting the amount of fat used and thus controlling our and our family's calorie intake.  OK, this recipe doesn't necessarily qualify as calorie conscious, but I have a family of naturally thin active men, with high metabolisms so they don't care. It does however qualify as down home cooking.

On that note, this meal doesn't get any more down home.  It originates from the Southern United States and is the epitome of comfort food.  It looks like a chicken cutlet but under that crispy coating is a steak in disguise.  Ramp up the level of comfort and serve this with a luscious latte-colored gravy and some silky mashed potatoes.  And if you really want to increase the carb factor, add some country biscuits.

For this recipe I opted for my 12 inch big-ass deep skillet...

Chicken Fried Steak

1.25 lbs cubed steak (you can buy this already prepared in the store)
Salt and Pepper or All Purpose Seasoning like Adobo
1 cup all-purpose flour for dredging
3 large eggs beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil (enough to coat bottom the skillet and come up a little up the sides - you don't want to submerge the steaks)

Heat oil to 375F over medium heat
Heat oven to 250F.  This will keep the steaks warm when you prepare the gravy. Put in a rack over a large sheet pan or a broiler pan so any of the excess fat can drain.

Season steaks:

Dredge meat in flour.  You can pat the flour into the meat a little to  help it stick. Dip in eggs and dredge in the flour again.

Add meat in batches to pan, be sure not to overcrowd pan or that reduces the temperature of the oil too fast and your meat absorbs more oil.  I had two larger pieces and four smaller pieces.  I cooked the two larger pieces first then cooked the four smaller pieces.

Cook for about 3 minutes and turn when steaks start to "bleed".  You only want to turn the steaks one time. Cook another 3 minutes or so, until juices start to look clear. NOTE: Frying eats up a lot of salt and seasonings. So season the steaks with a little salt and pepper when they come out of the pan. Place in oven to keep warm. 

Creamy Beef Gravy

1/4 cup of pan drippings
3 tbsps flour
1 12oz. can of Evaporated Milk
1 cup Beef Broth
Salt and Pepper

When steaks are cooked.  Remove all but 1/4 cup of pan drippings.  Over low-medium heat, add 3 tbsps of flour and whisk, to incorporate drippings and flour.  Add evaporated milk and beef broth and continue whisking until mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon.  The fancy French term is "nappe" - like "Nap-Ay".  Pour over steak and whatever other accompanying carb you have on the plate.

Chicken Fried Steak with Creamy Beef Gravy

Thai Peanut Noodles



Carnation Evaporated Milk

Featured Ingredient:  Carnation Evaporated Milk.

I've been sorting through my binder of recipes over the last couple days selecting candidates for future entries.

This recipe was adapted from a health magazine from 2004.  It was part of a selection of lower fat kid friendly dishes. I added a few items to balance the sweet and the savory ingredients and create some dimension to the sauce. It is still kid friendly, as it is not spicy. If you like spicier, for that extra kick I do like to add Sweet Chili Sauce.  Fresh ginger adds a nice little bite too.  I didn't have any fresh ginger on hand so I used dried.

Thai Peanut Noodles
4 servings

12 oz. Thick Spaghetti
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tsp pure sesame oil.  (There are two kinds.  The one you cook with and one you use for flavoring.  I used the one you use for flavoring).
1/2 cup evaporated milk
3 tbsp organic soy sauce
1/4 tsp dried ginger or 1tsp fresh ginger* If using fresh ginger see step 4 and do not add into sauce ingredients
2 tsp honey
2 tsp vinegar
4 scallions (whites and greens for sauteing - save some for garnish)
1 clove garlic minced
1 cup cucumber sliced thin
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup frozen sugar snap peas
Toasted Sesame Seeds

1. Cook spaghetti accroding to package directions

2. While pasta cooks, in a medium size bowl combine peanut butter, oil, milk, soy sauce, ginger, honey and vinegar and whisk until smooth.  Mixture should not be thin.

3. Bring a small amount of water to a boil, enough to fit snap peas, boil until tender.  Drain and rinse with cold water to retain bright green color.

4. Heat oil in small skillet and sautee scallion and garlic for 1-2 minutes to release aromatics. If using fresh ginger add it along with the scallion and garlic. Remove from heat.  Put in carrots and snap and toss with aromatics. 

5. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add sauce.  Toss with pasta. Fold in vegetables.  Garnish with green parts of scallion and toasted sesame seeds.

Peanut Noodles with Toasted Sesame Seeds

Crab Bisque

Crab Meat and Evaporated Milk

Featured ingredients:  Refrigerated Canned Crab Meat; Evaporated Milk. 

This dynamic duo, with the help of some other additions, yielded a smooth, creamy, fine dining quality bisque. Not too thin or too thick with a mild flavor of the sea and subtle notes of sherry and tomato.  I only used 2 canned ingredients.  But this recipe calls for stock and tomato paste, which also come in cans.  I didn't used the canned kind in this recipe so they are not featured, but could be easily substituted.

Preparing this bisque reminded me of culinary school.  It's the first place I used Fish Stock.  That scent coupled with Mirepoix and Herbs shot me back to Mod 1.  If you are not familiar with Mirepoix, it a French Term meaning mixed finely diced vegetables and is a flavor base for sauces, stews, soups. developed with a ratio of 50% onion/25% carrot/25% celery.  

The vegetables and herbs simmer with the stock for 20 to 30 minutes and the liquid used for the soup strained.  You are going to run what's left after 30 minutes through a strainer and discard the vegetables, herbs and only use the liquid and the aromas and flavors they leave behind.

1 cup crabmeat
1 carrot diced
1 small onion diced
1 celery diced
3 small cloves garlic
2 scallions chopped
2 ripe tomatoes diced
2 tbsps olive oil
salt & pepper to taste and as needed
3 tbsp sherry (I used a good quality one I bought at a liquor store).
2 cups Fish Stock or Seafood Stock (I used Kitchen Basic's Brand)

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp tomato paste
1 cup 2% Evaporated Milk
Dash Paprika or Cayenne if you like it spicier
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sautoir (there's culinary school again)...round skillet with high sides on medium low heat. Sautee carrot, onion, celery, garlic green onion and tomatoes.  As you know carrots, celery and onions can vary in size.  For best results try to stay true to the 50/25/25 portion rules as mentioned above.  You just want to "sweat" the vegetables until tender, (soften them without getting any carmelized brown color). Stir in sherry and season with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat for about 3 minutes. Add  stock and bring to a rolling boil.  You can also add the parsley stems to the mixture (another tip I learned from Culinary School). Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for at least 20 minutes.

In a sauce pan melt 2tbsp butter and whisk in 2 tbsp flour to make a roux.  Stir over low heat until it is a pale blond color, a couple of minutes.

Strain soup through a colander into the saucepan with the roux. Whisk liquid to incorporate roux and start to thicken bisque.  Add tomato paste, evaporated milk, and paprika.  Simmer about 5 minutes stirring soup frequently until mixture begins to thicken.  Add crab and cook until heated through.  Add parsley.

Yields 4 servings.

Crab Bisque

I served this with a salad of red leaf lettuce, arugula, cherry tomatoes and Roasted Red Pepper dressing.