Freezing Egg Yolks

I have wondered long about freezing egg whites and yolks. I finally resolved from chow.com that egg whites can be saved in the freezer for 12 months. They said that egg yolks didn't freeze well. But, I read recently in Cooks Illustrated (which the Palo Alto library has a subscription to) that you can freeze egg yolks if you mix them with a sugar syrup.

The syrup is 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. I think this is by volume. Mix 3/4 teaspoon syrup with 4 egg yolks before freezing. Apparently this makes it so the yolks thaw well and are still good. I haven't tried this yet, but it is great to discover this tip!

Baked Chicken

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/classic_baked_chicken/

This chicken was spectacular for being so simple. I had never parted a whole chicken before and this video helped. Really good!

Garlic Green Beans

Today I made green beans. They are my favorite vegetable. Normally I just steam veggies, but today I was adventurous, inspired by the green beans I ate with Reija & Bob a few days ago. It is very similar to this: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1634686 but has less salt and pepper.

Instead of measuring salt and pepper, I just put some on directly from the shakers. I used fresh ground pepper. I left out the oil and used 1 T butter. It was soooo good.

Chocolate Almond Cake

I first made this with a friend out of a dessert cookbook she had. It was so good I copied it down.

Cake:

12 oz unsalted butter

1 pound almond paste

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

8 large eggs

Mix ingredients one at a time. The ingredients mix easier at room temperature. Make sure the butter and paste are smooth before adding more ingredients. A stand mixer makes this super easy.

Grease and flour a large baking sheet (17x12x1 in.). Put parchment on the bottom of the sheet so it is close to the edges but doesn't go up the side. Pour in cake batter and distribute.

Bake 25 min @ 350 F and let cool 10 min.

Now it gets complicated, and I usually skip the rest of the instructions.

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Cut cake using round cookie cutter into as many rounds as possible.

Melt 4 oz 82% extra dark chocolate and brush top of cakes with it. Then stack each cake round in sets of two.

Melt together:

12 T (6 oz) unsalted butter, cut in cubes

8 oz 70% bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Drizzle melted mixture over stacked cakes and serve.

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The original recipe serves at least 8 people. I like to halve the cake recipe and put it in an 8x8 in. glass dish. It needs longer to bake, at least 10 min. longer (so 35 minutes total and maybe more). The center should not jiggle and toothpick comes out clean when it is done baking.

Instead of bothering with the complicated stuff that comes after the cake part, I just chop up some bittersweet chocolate and sprinkle over the top (while the cake is still hot). Or, I might take the brick of chocolate and smear it over the top of the cake in a single layer of chocolate. The end result is the same.

Bok Choy Stir Fry

http://steamykitchen.com/2112-bok-choy-stir-fry-recipe.html

I'd never made Bok Choy before this. It turned out pretty good. It's an interesting vegetable.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

http://simplycooking.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/best-drop-buttermilk-biscuits/

These biscuits didn't really drop. I had to use my hands to form the dough and press it onto the cookie sheet. I used half the butter called for and increased buttermilk to compensate. These were good, but I cooked them too long and so they were dry. 14 minutes is far too long. Next time I'll probably take them out after 10.

I made drop biscuits last year and haven't tracked down the recipe yet. I think I'll make this recipe again with whole wheat flour and cook it less time and see what happens.

These are best fresh. They were really dry the next day and beyond.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

Corn and Black Bean Salad

I adore this salad. It is best when you have really sweet corn. This might work with a super awesome brand of frozen corn, but fresh is best.

2 cobs of sweet fresh corn

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

handful cilantro, chopped

Cut the corn from the cob. I had never eaten corn raw like this until Reija made this salad at a dinner last summer. It rocks. You could add other raw things too, like red bell pepper or fresh green beans.

Mix corn with other ingredients.

Eat.

I love this recipe since it is so fresh and good. I have discovered that DH would like this much more sans cilantro. Next time I'll put it in a bowl to pass around as a garnish.

Moroccan Beef Stew

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/MOROCCAN-BEEF-STEW-234422

This was a fun stew. After searing the beef I let it simmer in the broth with the the vegetables. I sautéed the vegetables but the carrots weren't quite done, and then threw in the veges and spices into the soup. I should have held off adding the raisins until 5 minutes before I took it off heat. The raisins released more sugar than I would have liked and the soup was a bit sweet for DH. He loved the olives though. I used regular raisins since I didn't have golden. When DH got home, I put in the cilantro and garbanzo beans at then took off heat. It was yum.

Tuna and Butter Bean Salad

http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/01/how-to-cultivate-the-packed-lunch-habit-save/

I didn't have butter beans. Neither did the store. It turns out, butter beans are white lima beans. I didn't discover that pertinent fact until after I'd already bought white kidney beans (Cannellini) to use in this recipe. It was fantastic and very quick and easy.

Update: Safeway DOES have butter beans. I found them. They were great with this!

Potato Salad

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/potato_salad/

I made 1.5 times this recipe but kept the # of bacon strips to six. This recipe was really tasty. It is not low fat by any means. I was planning to try out a low fat version, but had no yogurt. I used russet potatoes. I use my food scale so often including to measure potatoes in this recipe. It is a great thing to have in the kitchen.

This is great for a picnic. It served 6 adults as a side and there were still a bunch of leftovers.

9/26/2010 update:

I made this with 1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt, 1/4 cup mayo, and 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream (as a substitute for the 1 cup mayo/sour cream combo). It was still very tasty! DH didn't know the difference.