Chocolate Chip Cookies of Amazingness

I don't know if there is anything quite like a home-cooked, soft, hot, chocolate chip cookie. They are magical. :)

This is the recipe I mentioned in my blog. Unfortunately I can't find the paper from when I wrote it down the first time, but this is what I can still remember. I'll keep looking and make any changes if I find it. It makes a huge batch, but you can half the batch

Cream the following ingredients together

2 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Add:
5 cups oatmeal flour (use quick or regular oats and make into flour in a blender--it takes about 6 cups of oatmeal to make 5 cups of flour)
5 cups white flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 Hershey bar shredded
2 bags of semi sweet chocolate chips

Cook on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for about 10 minutes.
"Drop pan onto surface (like a stove)" and then let them finish cooking for a few minutes. This is the secret my friend Ian gave. If anything, it can be pretty hilarious to do and give you a good laugh. Just warn anyone around with heart problems before you do so! Enjoy!

Welcome to El Italiano JK

When Niely and I were younger, we made a "Restaurant" called El Italiano JK. It was one of those mystery dinner types of deals where you order, but you have no idea what you just ordered. We had a lot of fun and aside from the mystery part, we enjoyed a couple italian-ish dishes this week.

Monday, on the spur of the moment we decided to make dinner together. We made Angel hair pasta with a fresh homemade pesto sauce, stirfry mushrooms and steamed a nice variety of frozen stirfry vegetables. We were hungry and ate the vegies and mushrooms before we remembered to take a piture, but you can see the pasta. It doesn't look like much, but in real life the pesto sauce is a bright leaf green and smells delectable.


Linguine al pesto (Linguine with Basil Sauce)
From: The Pasta Book, Recipes in the Italian Tradition, by Julia della Croce
serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 cloves garlic, cut into pieces
• 2 cups solidly packed fresh basil leaves (I didn't have quite this much)
• generous 1/2 tsp salt
• a twist or two of freshly milled black pepper
• 1/2 cup virgin olive oil (I used EVOO)
• 1/3 cup very lightly toasted pine nuts (we couldn't find some so we left this out, you could use walnuts instead)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano
  
• scant 1/4 cup freshly grated Romano or pecorino cheese (we didn't use this)
• 2 Tbs sweet (unsalted) butter, softend to room temperature
• 1 1/2 Tbs salt, for cooking pasta
• 1 lb linguine or spaghetti (we used angel hair, but I think I would use linguine next time)

Directions:

1. Combine garlic, basil, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, oil, and pine nuts in a food processor and blend to a smooth puree, stopping machine once or twice to scrape sides of container with a rubber spatula so that all ingredients are equally ground.
2. Add grated cheeses and butter and process for about 15 seconds. Scrape sides again and process for another few seconds. Do not overgrind, or pesto will have very little texture.
3. Bring 4-5 quartz water to a rapid boil and add the 1 1/2 Tbs salt and past. Stir immediately, and continure to stir frequently to prevent strands from sticking together.
4. After cooking as long as package directions indicate, drain, reserving some of the water. Do not overdrain; pasta should still be quite moist and dripping a little in order to combine properly with pesto. Stir 1 tablesppon of the hot water from drained pasta into pesto. Transfer past to a warm bowl, then toss with pesto. Serve immediately.

Keeping and freezing pesto: Pesto base will keep in the refrigerator for several months in a sealed glass jar. I have found teh best way of preventing a dark layer from formin gon the top is to press a layer of plastic wrap onto the surface of the pesto base. this is far more effective than the traditional method of pouring olive oil on the surface. You can freeze the pesto base in the same way.

Notes about Pesto: Pesto sauce originated in Genoa, in the Liguria region. It is one of the oldest Italian dishes known, said to have come about from the combined influence of the Arabs, Persians, and Byzantines. The Italians insist that it should be served with trenette, a narrow but thick homemade egg noodle, because the unctious character of the sauce is too overwhelming for more delicate egg noodles. But pesto also works well with linguine, spaghetti, or even the larger bucatini.

Authentic pesto can be made only with fresh basil leaves, but there are many variations of it. It can be made with pine nuts or walnuts, with or without butter, and with the addition of a small amount of parsley to quiet its natural sweetness. Some Italians add both parmigiano and pecorino cheeses, whereas other Italians, the Romans in particular, are horrified at the mere suggestion of intorducing pecorino to pesto. Pecorino cheese is sharper and mroe salty than parmigiano. It would be a mistake to use it alone. Ablend is suggested for this dish. If you will not be using the pesto immediately, leave out the cheeses, salt and butter. Beat them in just before using the pesto.

Mushrooms
To cook the mushrooms, we took about 8 fresh mushrooms and cooked them in a non-stick frying pan at medium-high heat with a tiny bit of butter (about 1/2 Tbs) and some soy sauce. Cook until softer but still a little crisp.

Thursday afternoon M joined us for lunch. Jeniel made focaccia bread (recipe in last post) and we had sandwiches of mozzarel and prociutto. It was delicious served with a fresh spinach and berry salad with poppyseed dressing. Mmmm! so good.

The happy eaters

Mmm! What a spread.

Today Aubs made a delicious dinner: Chicken Parmesan, Focaccia and Green beans (the same that I made at Gma and Gpa's on Wednesday). It is not too difficult although it takes some time and it is delicious!

Focaccia Bread
3 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
6 cups unbleached bread flour
3 tsp salt
Olive Oil
Seasonings for topping

1. Measure water into a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and stir until dissolved. Stir in 3 cups of the flour and all of the salt with a wooden spoon until smooth - about 2 minutes. Stir in the rest of the flour vigorously until the dough starts to pull away just a bit from the sides of the bowl. It will probably look too sticky to you. But don't worry. You don't even need to get your hands dirty!
2. Cover and let rise until doubled--anywhere from 1/2 hour to 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 500 degrees and oil a large sheet cake pan (cookie sheet) with some olive oil.
3. Gently pour the dough onto the pan, scraping it out with a spatula. Pour about 1-2 tablespoons olive oil on the dough, then gently pull, push and spread the dough until it makes a rough oval shape that covers the entire pan. Make the indentations by poking holes in the dough and pulling slightly.
4. Now put toppings on your loaf. The classic ones are coarse salt and fresh rosemary. We also like a few sprinkles of Parmesan and/or Romano cheese, a bit of dried basil and oregano.
5. Bake at 500 degrees until browned all over. Remove from oven and dislodge right away to a cooling rack. Let sit just a few minutes, then feel free to eat right away with butter. We often serve this with meaty tomato sauce for dipping. Another thing you can do is let if cool a bit more, then break into sandwich-size chunks. Slice the bread, and brush each side with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Spread a bit of olive tapenade, or a roasted pepper, Italian cheese and dried Salami. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and take on a picnic!

Chicken ParmesanPrep: 10 minutes
Bake: 30 minutes

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/4 lbs)
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4-1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 jar (26-28 oz) Tomato Based Pasta Sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (you can use some parmesan as well)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dip chicken in eggs, then bread crumbs, coating well.
2. In 13x9" glass baking dish, arrange chicken. Bake uncovered 20 minutes
3. Pour sauce over chicken, then top with cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Serve, if desired with hot cooked pasta or foccocia bread.

Green Beans
Cook frozen or fresh green beans (I like the kind that is still whole) with some dehydrated onion in a frying pan on the stove with a little bit of water at medium high heat. When the water is almost gone, add a small drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and stir for a couple minutes. Towards the end, shake on a little salt to bring out the flavor. Cook the green beans last so that they will still be hot when you are ready to eat.


When preparing all three, get the focaccia bread started, then while it is rising, get the chicken made and in to cook. After the chicken cooks the first twenty minutes, and you stick it back in for the last ten, prepare the focaccia dough and stick it in to cook. Then get the beans going. Typically things finish up one right after the other so nothing gets too cold.