Cinnamon Rolls (Kids)

 24-25 December 2020

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen Kids

We wanted to continue our Christmas morning tradition of cinnamon rolls even though it was just the two of us. I wanted a recipe for homemade rolls that would not take too much time or too many ingredients, that would make a reasonable number of rolls, and which could be executed early on Christmas morning. My search led me, to my surprise, to the ATK Kids section where I found this recipe. It was listed with a difficulty of "advanced" but I figured I could handle it. It is a yeast-roll recipe but I bet that I could let the rolls rise in the refrigerator overnight then bake them the next morning. The directions were very easy to follow.

The dry ingredients—AP flour, sugar, yeast, and salt—were whisked together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Water, softened unsalted butter, and an egg were mixed into the flour mixture then kneaded using the dough hook. The dough was then kneaded briefly by hand into a smooth ball that was left to rise until doubled. After 2 hours 20 minutes it was rolled out to 16"x8", brushed with melted butter, sprinkled with a filling of cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt, then cut into 2" strips. These were rolled up and placed in a round 9" cake pan that had been prepared with parchment and vegetable oil spray. Excess filling was sprinkled over the top of the rolls. They were covered with plastic and placed in the refrigerator to rise over night. The next morning they were removed from the refrigerator and allowed to warm while the oven came up to temperature, 325°. The rolls were baked until golden brown, drizzled with a glaze of confectioner' sugar and milk, and served. Preparation time Christmas eve took about 3 hours, including the 2+ hours rising. Christmas morning the rolls were ready to eat about 70 minutes after they were removed from the refrigerator.

These were really good cinnamon rolls and met my criteria of being easy to prepare with common ingredients and ready to serve at a reasonable time on Christmas morning. It was fun following the detailed, illustrated recipe instructions; printed they came to eight pages. The rolls were not as rich as those made using the recipe for ultimate cinnamon rolls, but they were easier to prepare. These were worthy of our Christmas breakfast, and good as leftovers over the following days.

Cranberry Curd Tart with Almond Crust

 24 December 2020

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, November 2020

I was drawn to this recipe by the vibrant red color of the cranberry curd. I don't recall ever seeing food so red before, other than beets. We have some experience using cranberries in dessert, a cranberry apple crisp with the cranberries providing tartness to complement the sweet apples and topping. But it was primarily because of the color that I made this tart as our Christmas day dessert.

The curd filling and almond crust were made separately. For the curd, 16 ounces of cranberries were boiled with water, sugar, and salt until they burst. The hot cranberries were placed into a food processor and a mixture of egg yolks with cornstarch was added. This was processed until smooth and then allowed to cool to 125°. For the crust, almond flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt were mixed in a bowl. Melted butter and almond extract were added and stirred to form a uniform dough. The dough was pressed by hand into the bottom and sides of a tart pan (with removable bottom) and baked for about 20 minutes at 350°. Once the cranberry mixture had cooled, butter was added and processed until smooth. The mixture was strained. A few tablespoons of the mixture were mixed with heavy cream and refrigerated. Most of the purée was poured into the crust (it barely fit) and refrigerated until we were ready to eat it the next day. (Alternatively, it could have rested for 4 hours at room temperature.) The heavy cream was whipped and piped onto the tart for decoration. Total time, excluding the 4-hour rest, was 2 hours.

Diane and I disagreed: she likes this cranberry tart better than the apple-cranberry crisp, I prefer the crisp. The tart has a delicious crust and a filling that is neither too sweet nor too tart. It keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days as does the whipped cream, stabilized by the addition of a little cranberry. We do agree that my piping skills leave much to be desired. It us unfortunate that the recipe requires 16 ounces of cranberries when a bag is 12 oz. I don't know if I will be making this again, but it is good enough to eat again and is certainly one of the most visually striking things I have ever made.

15-Minute Pantry Tomato Soup

 20 December 2020

Recipe from The Food Lab, W. W. Norton, 2015, p. 208

I started reading this huge book recently and when I was thinking of making some tomato soup I skipped ahead and found the recipe. It was advertised to be quick and not require any special ingredients, so well worth trying. I have tried several other tomato soup recipes and am curious how this one will compare.

A finely diced onion was cooked in butter in a sauce pan to soften the onion. Red pepper flakes (about 1⁄16 of a teaspoon) and dried oregano were added and cooked until fragrant. Flour was added and cooked followed by canned whole tomatoes with their juice, and milk. This was brought to a boil then simmered for just 3 minutes. The tomatoes were mashed roughly with a potato masher and an immersion blender was used to purée the soup. It was seasoned with salt and pepper and enhanced with the addition of some bourbon. Total time was about 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, doing a side-by-side comparison of soups made using different recipes is not practical, so I can't say with any confidence if this soup was better or worse than others I have made. My impression is that it was okay but not a great soup. Nonetheless I would like to make it again, using better quality tomatoes (I used a store-brand organic tomato) and the blender to purée instead of the immersion blender. I'm not totally sold on the bourbon, an optional ingredient, but perhaps it adds some complexity that I would miss. I also am interested in knowing how well the soup that is still in the freezer has fared.

Turkey Breast en Cocotte with Pan Gravy

 2 December 2020

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

Turkey has been hard to find at the supermarket the last few years, except at Thanksgiving. So after getting home from our (safe) Thanksgiving trip we bought a half breast even though we just had several turkey meals. It was less than $1 a pound, so expectations were not high. Normally we'd look for something higher quality but it was a pretty good deal. And I had a Test Kitchen recipe for turkey breast from a 2018 episode of the TV show that I wanted to try. Its focus is on moist meat and gravy rather than magazine-cover good looks and crispy skin.

The recipe calls for a 6-7 pound whole, bone-in turkey breast; the half breast that we bough was from a larger bird, weighing 4.3 pounds. The ribs were cut off along with excess fat and skin. The breast was seasoned with salt and pepper then put into a Dutch oven with hot vegetable oil. To this was added chopped onion, celery, and carrot with crushed garlic cloves, fresh thyme, and bay. This was cooked, stirring the vegetables and turning the turkey, until all were well browned. A sheet of foil was put on the pot and this was covered with the lid. It went into a 250° oven until the turkey reached 160°. While the turkey rested the juices and vegetables were simmered until almost all of the liquid was gone. Flour was stirred in and cooked then a mixture of chicken and turkey broth (from concentrate) was added. This was cooked until the gravy was thickened and then was strained. Total time was 3¼ hours with over half of this being hands off while the turkey cooked in the oven.

As expected, the turkey was not great to look but the gravy was really good. The meat itself was dry and tough. I blame this mostly on the bargain turkey that we purchased rather than the recipe. The half breast barely fit into the Dutch oven making it a bit of a challenge to brown the vegetables and meat. This is a convenient, easy way to cook turkey breast for two and I would do it again, albeit with better quality meat and a smaller breast to start with. I would also skip the turkey stock and just use chicken as listed in the recipe. While the meat was dry and tough it was still good for leftovers where we could compensate for its shortcomings.