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I have a plastic, with metal discs, potato ricer that I bought years ago from Williams Sonoma. I have used it a lot for making mashed potatoes--usually when there were a lot of people around to eat that batch of mashed potatoes. At the moment, it is one of the items still packed away somewhere, while we continue to wait for the contractor to start our remodeling. I've been using a potato masher with a flat round end that has squares; I bought it at an estate sale so that I could mash potatoes in Indiana, during the time we were only here on vacations. It does a lovely job, and is a lot less messy to clean. For large batches, however, I think that my potato ricer works faster.
Navlys--Cooks Illustrated should have given you a kitchen tool/ingredient allowance!
It's an overcast Tuesday, not too cold, as with a high of 60F earlier this afternoon. I baked Walnut (or Pecan) Pumpkin Squares, a recipe I adapted from one in the L.A. Times years ago, and that I've posted on this site. We will have it for dessert tonight and the next couple of days.
I also have Wheat-Oat Flax Buns (from the KAF site) on their second rise. As usual, I substituted in 3/4 cup of buttermilk for the water and soak the oats in it first, and I and used 1/4 cup of water rather than orange juice. I always use a whole egg, rather than using the yolk in the bread and brushing the buns with egg white, as I don't use a topping. I added 2 Tbs. of special dried milk, which I'm trying to use up. I reduce the yeast to 2 tsp. I decided to reduce the salt from 1 1/2 to 1 tsp. I've previously reduced it to 1 1/4 tsp. We will use these for dinner sandwiches with the leftover salmon patties, and then use them for lunches. This recipe is a favorite because it makes small, light-textured buns, and we like the wholegrain taste.
Sunday dinner was Maple-Glazed Pork Roast, a favorite recipe of mine from Cook's Illustrated (March/April 2003). I make it without the spices. Usually I make this recipe for Easter every year, but I could not find a pork tenderloin at the grocery that week, only the overpriced, small, seasoned Hormel ones. Last week, the store finally had what I wanted, so the "Easter" dinner happened today. I made mashed potatoes to go with it, and we also had peas.
Saturday afternoon I baked Espresso Brownie Bites, a recipe that came with my Nordic Ware Brownie Bundt pan. It made twelve cute little Bundt cakes, and we ate a couple with vanilla ice cream. It's a good recipe with crisp exterior and chewy inside. I will bake these again.
Hmm--I seem to be the only member baking this week.
Saturday morning I baked a new recipe, Scottish Buttermilk Oat Scones, from the back of a Bob's Red Mill package of steel-cut oats. The recipe is only ok, nothing great. They are better once cooled, and split and covered with my peach jam. I went to the Bob's site to find a link to the recipe and discovered that the onsite version uses 1/2 cup rather than 1/4 cup of unbleached white flour. That would improve the somewhat soggy consistency, but I'm not sure that I would be in a hurry to try this recipe again:
To go with leftover turkey and steamed green beans (done in the microwave) for Thursday dinner, I made scalloped potatoes, following the recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step-by-Step Cook Book (1978), pp. 130-131. This cookbook was an Easter gift from my godfather when I was in graduate school. I don't think that I've made scalloped potatoes before, and I chose this recipe because instead of making a white sauce, the flour is sifted over each of the two layers of potatoes and a bit of onion, then the milk is poured over it all. It baked very well and reminded my husband of the potato casserole he recalls his mother's making. My only change to the recipe was to sprinkle dried chives on top before baking. I will make this recipe again.
Note: The barley flour substitution in the Bischofsbrot worked well, and I will do it again.
Temperatures have soared to 41F but it is very cloudy and looks like possible rain. It's time to head into the kitchen and bake! On Wednesday afternoon, I'm baking two loaves of my Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread. I'm substituting in 1/2 cup of barley flour, along with the 1 cup of whole wheat flour. I'll reduce the AP flour that I use in combination with bread flour. I'm also going to cut the salt to 2 tsp.
Note: The bread is fine with less salt. I also like the flavor of the barley flour and will use it again.
