Pretzel Churros

Fernando (My husbands co-worker) requested pretzel churros.  I wasn't sure if he meant churros shaped liked pretzels or pretzels dipped in cinnamon and sugar.  I decided to make churros shaped like pretzels today.  Well actually I made a test batch yesterday, scary, and repeated the process with the knowledge I gained.  I learned that churros must be prepared in a very specific manner or they will explode.  My kitchen floor, stove, and ceiling were covered in oil and churro pieces.  Yes, cleaning up was a huge endeavor, and I almost wasn't going to finish making them, but I did.  I made sure they cooked and didn't explode.  Today armed with my new churro knowledge, I made them again and delivered them to Fernando and my husband.  Churro's are a treat from our friends in Spain.  Did you know that? They are also a very common treat at my husbands office. They know where to get them and talk about them. These simple treats are easy to make if you know the rules to avoiding a big giant mess.

 Look at those beautiful sugar sprinkled fried dough goodness.  Oh yes, you want some.

Ingredients:

Oil (Vegetable, Corn, Canola, or Peanut)
17 ounces Water
1 teaspoon Salt
9 ounces Flour

This is the device I used to make my churros.  This is a cookie press with the star disk.
You may use a star tip and piping bag or if you are in possession of a churerra
(Spanish churro press) you could use that.

This disk is one of the keys to NOT having exploding churros.  That is correct, you must
use a star shape.  This is important.  DO NOT USE ANY OTHER SHAPE DISK OR TIP!
My face still hurts from the hot oil.  Do not make this mistake.  Actually I only used this disk,
so that wasn't my mistake, but it has been for other churro explosion victims.
Listen and follow this first rule.

Boil the water and salt in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat.

 Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour.

 Stir with a wooden spatula until smooth. 

 Scrape some of the dough into the cookie press, pastry bag, or churrera until filled.

Squeeze out the dough into a pretzel shape.  The dough is a little sticky so it will stick to itself.
I squeezed the pretzel shapes on sprayed aluminum foil.

Pour 1 1/2 inches of oil into a tall sauce pan.

Heat the oil to 375 Farherheit.

 Carefully pick up the pretzel shaped dough and place in the oil.  Immediately put a lid on the pan.

This is the second rule to prevent a huge exploding churro mess.
COVER THE PAN WITH A LID!

Cook the churros for 3-4 minutes.

Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar onto the hot churros.  If you want more cinnamon and sugar,
dip the churro in a container with a lid and shake the sugar all over the churro.

Enjoy!

Pretzel Churros

Printable recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

Oil (Vegetable, Corn, Canola, or Peanut)
17 ounces Water
1 teaspoon Salt
9 ounces Flour

Process:

Boil the water and salt in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour.

Stir with a wooden spatula until smooth. 

Scrape some of the dough into cookie press, pastry bag, or churrera fitted with a star disk or tip.  ONLY USE A STAR TIP!

Squeeze out the dough into a pretzel shape.  The dough is a little sticky so it will stick to itself.  I squeezed the pretzel shapes on sprayed aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Pour 1 1/2 inches of oil into a tall sauce pan, or dutch oven with lid.

Heat the oil to 375 Farherheit.

Carefully pick up the pretzel shaped dough and place in the oil.  Immediately put a lid on the pan.

COVER THE PAN WITH A LID!

Cook the churros for 3-4 minutes.

Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar onto the hot churros.  If you want more cinnamon and sugar dip the churro in a container with a lid and shake the sugar all over the churro.

Enjoy!

Oat Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

This afternoon while at my friend Bridget's house, she ate some cinnamon raisin swirl toast.  I thought about that bread and decided I wanted to make it, but I wanted to include oats.  Oats, cinnamon, and raisins seems to go together I think, or maybe Quaker Oats Company taught me to believe that.  We ate instant Quaker oatmeal sometimes when I was a kid, and one of the flavors was cinnamon raisin. Truthfully I didn't like that flavor growing up.  I did like cinnamon raisin bread though, my mom would buy a bread from Costco, they were shaped like a hotdog bun and were as dense as a bagel and filled with cinnamon and walnuts and raisins.  I loved that bread toasted and spread with butter.  My point is, I wanted cinnamon swirl bread, but I didn't want to drive to Costco where Bridget bought her loaf, so I made it instead.  Last week I received a shipment of oat groats, so I was ready to make my own oat flour for my bread.  I looked for a recipe for the bread I wanted to make first.  I wanted an oat bread with cinnamon and raisins.  I wanted a swirl of cinnamon and raisins.  All the recipes I saw included the cinnamon and raisins mixed into all the dough instead of rolled into the dough like a cinnamon roll. Since I couldn't find a recipe.  I made one up, well mostly.  I used the recipe "American White Bread from "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes" as a starting point and re-worked it a lot for my own purposes.

The smell from this bread is heavenly.  You should make this bread.

Ingredients:

3 cups Oat Flour (I used my Whisper mill to grind oat groats)
3 cups All Purpose Flour
2 cups Lukewarm Water (Microwave water for 1 minute to get correct temperature)
1 1/4 cups Lukewarm Milk (Microwave 1 cup milk with the water)
1 1/2 tablespoons Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt
1/4 cup Cane Sugar plus 1 tablespoon (white granulated sugar can be substituted)
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Golden Raisins
1 tablespoon softened Butter
1 tablespoon Cinnamon
3 teaspoons Nutmeg

Place yeast, kosher salt and 1/4 cup sugar into bowl.  Add water and milk, allow to activate and foam.

 Happy, happy, happy yeast!

 Add flours, mix with dough hook.

 Beat with dough hook for 5 minutes.

Spray the inside of a large lidded container, place dough in container.  Replace lid and put
in a warm place to rest for two hours.

 Place raisins in a bowl.   Add hot boiling water and allow to plump up.  After they have
plumped up for at least 5 minutes, drain them completely.

 It's alive! Time to make some bread.

If you happen to have super long 12 inch bread pans like I do, divide the dough in half.
If you do not, then divide the dough into 1 1/2 lb. dough balls to be baked in a 9 inch
loaf pan.  Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle.  

This bread has a similar method to cinnamon rolls. 

Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg on dough.  I gave measurements for the recipe but really
 you can eyeball it to see how much you want.  Sprinkle half the raisins on the dough.

Roll dough tightly to form a loaf shape.  Tuck the sides under themselves and squash if
 necessary to fit into a buttered loaf pan.

Brush with a mixture of 1/4 cup milk and 1 tablespoon cane sugar (white sugar also works).

Allow to rise until doubled, and brush again with milk mixture.

Preheat Oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled.

Bake for 30 minutes on the middle shelf in preheated oven.

Remove bread from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Slice to your desired thickness and bring out the butter to spread.

Enjoy!

Oat Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread 

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

3 cups Oat Flour (I used my Whisper mill to grind oat groats)

3 cups All Purpose Flour

2 cups Lukewarm Water (Microwave water for 1 minute to get correct temperature)

1 1/4 cups Lukewarm Milk (Microwave 1 cup milk with the water)

1 1/2 tablespoons Active Dry Yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

1/4 cup Cane Sugar plus 1 tablespoon (white granulated sugar can be substituted)

1/2 cup Raisins

1/2 cup Golden Raisins

1 tablespoon softened Butter 

1 tablespoon Cinnamon

3 teaspoons Nutmeg

Process:

Place yeast, kosher salt and 1/4 cup sugar into bowl.  Add water and milk, allow to activate and foam.

Add flours, mix with dough hook.

Beat with dough hook for 5 minutes.

Spray the inside of a large lidded container, place dough in container.  Replace lid and put in a warm place to rest for two hours.

Place raisins in bowl.  Add hot boiling water and allow to plump up.  After they have plumped up for at least 5 minutes, drain them completely.

If you happen to have super long 12 inch bread pans like I do, divide the dough in half.  If you do not, then divide the dough into 1 1/2 lb. dough balls to be baked in a 9 inch loaf pan.  

Roll dough out on a floured surface into 1/2 inch thick rectangle.  

This bread has a similar method to cinnamon rolls. 

Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg on dough.  I gave measurements for the recipe but really you can eyeball it to see how much you want.  Sprinkle half the raisins on the dough.

Roll dough tightly to form a loaf shape.  Tuck the sides under themselves and squash if necessary to fit into a buttered loaf pan.

Brush with a mixture of 1/4 cup milk and 1 tablespoon cane sugar (white sugar also works).

Allow to rise until doubled, and brush again with milk mixture.

Preheat Oven to 350 Fahrenheit

Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled.

Bake for 30 minutes on the middle shelf in preheated oven.

Remove bread from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Blackened Catfish

While doing my weekly grocery shopping, the catfish was calling my name, and I decided it was time to try and prepare it myself.  I have eaten catfish once in my lifetime I think, and since I have been preparing a different fish every week, this was the week for catfish.  Fried catfish seemed a little too much frying for me, so I decided to make blackened catfish.  My fish didn't turn out very blackened, most likely because I used fresh ingredients rather then dried.  Dried spices do blacken, hence the name. This is my personal experience speaking.  In no way am I able to accurately tell you why blackened catfish is called that, but I'm guessing it is because the spice rubbed on the catfish blackens when it is pan fried. 

 Flavorful exterior, flaky moist inside.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons softened Butter
1 small Yellow Onion
4 cloves Garlic
1 Lemon
1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
2 lbs. Catfish fillets

 Peel and finely dice 1/2 of the onion.

If you have a molcajete or a mortar and pestle, bring them out, otherwise process this in a
blender or food processor.

Place onion, garlic and salt in molcajete or blender.  Grind or blend into a paste.

 Look at my paste, cool.

 Add paprika and red pepper flakes.  Grind or blend until smooth.

 Squeeze lemon juice and add olive oil.  Stir or blend until smooth.

 Brush paste onto both sides of catfish filets, allow to marinate for 15 minutes.

 Add 4 tablespoons of butter to large sauté pan over medium heat.

 Fry catfish filets until interior flesh is opaque and flaky,  3-5 minutes on each side.

Remove from pan and place on serving platter or plate.

Enjoy!

Blackened Catfish

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons softened Butter

1 small Yellow Onion

4 cloves Garlic

1 Lemon

1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

1 1/2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 lbs. Catfish fillets

Process:

Peel and finely dice 1/2 of the onion.

If you have a molcajete or a mortar and pestle bring them out, otherwise process this in a blender or food processor.

Place onion, garlic and salt in molcajete or blender.  Grind or blend into a paste.

Add paprika and red pepper flakes.  Grind or blend until smooth.

Squeeze lemon juice and add olive oil.  Stir or blend until smooth.

Brush paste onto both sides of catfish filets, allow to marinate for 15 minutes.

Add 4 tablespoons of butter to large sauté pan over medium heat.

Fry catfish filets until interior flesh is opaque and flaky,  3-5 minutes on each side.

Enjoy!

Cajun Coleslaw

I really like coleslaw.  I'm not sure what it is about crunchy cabbage in sauce, but it is so yummy to me. Our friend's in Maryland introduced us to Duck Dynasty.  I have heard of it, but had never had a reason to watch it truthfully.  I tend to swear off all reality TV.  We watched with them and we were hooked. I love the funny antics in each episode and the redneck premise of the show.  For dinner I decided to channel my inner Southern and cook a Louisiana inspired meal to eat while we watched Duck Dynasty for our Friday night movie.  The first part of our Louisiana feast was coleslaw, not just your average sweet coleslaw from KFC, I chose a spicy Cajun coleslaw instead.  My husband and I love flavor, and he agreed this was a very good coleslaw.  This recipe is best served the next day.  If you give the flavors a day to really develop, your tatse-buds will be rewarded I promise.  Our dinner also included biscuits and blackened catfish, so stay tuned for the catfish in the next post.

 This is what coleslaw should be.

Ingredients:

1 small head of Cabbage
1 small head of Red Cabbage
2 Yellow Onions
1 Lemon
5 tablespoons Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Spicy Brown Mustard
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce
2 tablespoons Ketchup
3 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

 Whisk mustard and mayonnaise together in a very large bowl.

 Add hot sauce and whisk until thickened. 

 Add ketchup and whisk until thickened.

 Add salt and and garlic powder, whisk.

 Add red wine vinegar, juice the lemon into sauce and whisk.

 This beautiful sauce will accompany the cabbage and bring it to perfection.

 Peel, cut onions in half, and slice thinly.

Remove outer leaves of cabbage, rinse, cut in half, and cut the core out.

 Slice cabbage thinly.

 Repeat process with the red cabbage.

 Add cabbage, and onions to large bowl with sauce.  Stir and refrigerate for at least a day.

Enjoy!

Cajun Coleslaw

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

1 small head of Cabbage

1 small head of Red Cabbage

2 Yellow Onions

1 Lemon

5 tablespoons Mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Spicy Brown Mustard

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce

2 tablespoons Ketchup

3 teaspoons Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

Process:

Whisk mustard and mayonnaise together in a very large bowl.

Add hot sauce and whisk until thickened. 

Add ketchup and whisk until thickened.

Add salt and and garlic powder, whisk.

Add red wine vinegar, juice the lemon into sauce and whisk.

This beautiful sauce will accompany the cabbage and bring it to perfection.

Peel, cut onions in half, and slice thinly.

Remove outer leaves of cabbage, rinse, cut in half, and cut the core out.

Slice cabbage thinly.

Repeat process with the red cabbage.

Add cabbage, and onions to large bowl with sauce.  Stir and refrigerate for at least a day.

Enjoy!