Very Quick Recipes

In an effort to make a New Year resolution to eat properly without eating out all of the time, I'm trying to alter my approach to cooking. I haven't quite figured it out, but ideally any dish that requires few ingredients, or ingredients with long shelf lives (so I can minimize grocery store trips), that requires little preparation, and that uses few dishes (so I can minimize cleaning time) would be great. That seems nearly impossible now that I write it out, but... maybe I can figure something out.

• Cream biscuits
• Congee! (Juk)

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Yields approximately 18 (2-inch) biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into cubes
1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potato (approximately 1 large potato)
1/2 cup buttermilk, plus additional as needed
For the maple butter
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons real maple syrup

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°
In a large bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender (or your fingers if you don't have one) cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is a mix of pea-size balls and small crumbs.

In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed sweet potato and buttermilk until well-combined. Fold into the flour mixture, adding more (up to 4 tablespoons) buttermilk if necessary. The dough should form a nice ball, and be just a bit on the sticky side, as opposed to crumbly and dry. Chill the dough for thirty minutes, if desired, although you can bake them off immediately if you would like. I happen to like the way the biscuits look when the dough has chilled (a bit more crackly on top), but the flavor is not affected by this step.

Pat out the dough onto a lightly floured surface to about a 1-inch thickness (do not roll out the dough with a rolling pin). Cut out rounds using a well floured biscuit cutter. Gather the remaining scraps and repeat until all the dough is used. Place the biscuits on a large sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes (or bake in batches).

For the maple butter, mix the room temperature butter and maple syrup until completely combined and smooth. Serve with warm biscuits or refrigerate until needed.

Note: the cooked biscuits will freeze beautifully and can be pulled out at a moments notice. Just bake at 375° until heated through.

Porridge!

If I had time to cook, or eat, really, I would love to make this. I'd be nice to make this for my parents as well.

Recipe from the Kitchn.

Serves 2
1 cup oat bran (oat bran is my preference, but you can also use a 7 or 10-grain cereal)
2 cups water
1 generous cup berries (fresh or frozen) or sliced, very ripe, bananas
pinch of salt
1 to 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Toppings:
• nuts (try sliced almonds with the berries and toasted pecans or walnuts with the bananas)
• heavy cream
• flax seeds
• brown sugar (or try honey or maple syrup)
• fresh fruit
• sea salt (a sprinkle on top really pushes this over the edge!)

In a medium pot over medium-high heat bring water, pinch of salt, and half of fruit to a boil. Add the oat bran and honey and stir regularly until cereal is cooked, about 2-3 minutes for oat bran- longer for 10-grain. Serve hot, topped with suggested toppings

Corn Muffins!

These won the Thanksgiving bread vote, so I will be making these for Thanksgiving dinner along with my turkey =)

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Yield: 12 regular-sized muffins or 48 miniature ones

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons corn oil (I used olive oil since it was handy)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup corn kernels (add up to 1/3 cup more if you’d like) – fresh, frozen or canned (in which case they should be drained and patted dry)

Directions
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg, if you’re using it. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, egg and yolk together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – the batter will be lumpy, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the corn kernels. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes (12 minutes for minis), or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

French Scrambled Eggs

I've been a little bit obsessed with soft scrambled eggs as of late. I've always loved eating the softer scrambled eggs from Bette's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley, and now that I'm here in LA, I have no idea where to get my fix! It's disastrous! So the time has come for me to make my own. Hopefully I can make them this weekend. I'm visiting San Luis Obispo, so it'd be a perfect, casual weekend to do so.

Recipe from Inn Cuisine.

Ingredients
5 large eggs (free-range organic if possible)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons fresh, chopped basil or chives
1/2 cup extra sharp Cheddar cheese (optional)

Serves 2

Directions
Make a double boiler by setting a (preferably glass) bowl down into a saucepan so that the rim of the bowl rests on the rim of the saucepan. Place enough water in the saucepan so there is plenty of space between the bottom of the bowl and the top of the water.

Crack eggs into a separate bowl and beat with a fork until yolks and whites are combined.

Place butter in the double-boiler bowl and bring water to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer, swirl melted butter around in bowl to coat the sides. Pour beaten eggs into the double boiler, using a silicone spatula (heat-proof, since you will be using it later to stir the eggs) to get all the eggs from the bowl into the double boiler.

Watch the eggs very carefully and periodically run the spatula along the bottom to see if they are beginning to coagulate. Don’t be tempted to turn up the heat if the eggs seem to be taking forever to coagulate. The slower the eggs cook, the better.

Once the eggs are coagulating, continue running the spatula along the bottom of the bowl, creating folds of eggs and allowing the liquid eggs above the coagulated ones to come into contact with the bottom of the bowl. When you have more coagulated than liquid eggs left in the bowl, turn the heat off.

Add salt and pepper to taste, then cheese if using, and continue stirring until eggs are mostly coagulated, but still too soft for your taste (the eggs will continue to cook for a while after being removed from the heat). French Scrambled Eggs will remain moister than eggs cooked in a pan, so be careful not to confuse moistness with rawness.

Use the spatula to scrape the eggs onto a serving plate or into a bowl, sprinkling chopped, fresh herbs on top. Serve immediately with toast, grits, and/or your desired breakfast meat. These eggs also pair perfectly with a small steak and some fresh strawberries or other fruit.

Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal

My mom and dad love oatmeal. I think this would be the perfect thing to make for them on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Recipe from Une-deux senses.

Yields: about 6 - 8 servings

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups regular rolled oats
1/2 cup steel cut oats
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups milk
2/3 cup applesauce
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped into bits (I used Granny smith)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla

Healthier version:
- exclude the brown sugar
- reduce cooking oil to 1/8 cup
- add another 1/3 cup applesauce
- maple syrup to drizzle on top

For the apple pie topping:
3 medium apples (I used Granny Smith)
2 tbsn. unsalted butter
1 tbsn. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
pinch of allspice

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly grease a baking dish, set aside. In a large bowl combine the oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar (if using). In another bowl, combine the milk, applesauce and oil. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix to combine. Fold in the apple bits and then place mixture into a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and gently stir the mixture. Bake for another 20 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

To make the apple pie topping, heat the butter in a medium saucepan until melted. Add the apples, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Saute until desired consistency and slightly caramelized, about 5 - 7 minutes. Serve the hot oatmeal with the apple pie topping and/or some sugar-free maple syrup!