Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients
• 3 full heads of garlic
• 6-8 baking potatoes or Yukon Golds, washed and cut into quarters
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons, 4 ounces or 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup milk
• Sprinkled sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 350°.
2. Place the full heads of garlic in a small baking dish. Roast in the oven until they are golden, very soft and the tops have begun to bubble. This will take about 45 minutes or an hour and may be done in advance. Let cool slightly.
3. Put the potatoes into the top part of a stovetop steamer and fill the bottom part with 2-3 inches of water. Add the bay leaves to the water and then fit the top onto the bottom. Place over medium-high heat and cover with a tight fitting lid. Steam until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, about 15-20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile gently heat the butter and milk in a small saucepan until the butter has melted.
5. When the potatoes are tender, pour off the water in the pot then place the steaming hot potatoes back in the pot. Pour in the butter milk mixture. Slice the top off the roast garlic with a serrated knife and squeeze in the roasted garlic, holding onto the root end bottom and letting the softened garlic ooze out of the top. Season with salt and pepper and mash well.

Frizzled Onions

These onions are delicious sprinkled on Garlic Mashed Potatoes. You can also substitute seasoning salt for the salt and paprika.

Frizzled Onions

4 cups canola oil or vegetable oil (for frying)
1 large yellow onion
2 cups milk
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika (divided)


Using a mandoline or vegetable slicer, thinly slice onion into rings.

Place onion rings in a large bowl and cover with milk. Let sit for 1 hour.

Heat oil in a heavy stockpot to 375º F.

In another bowl, mix together flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon of the paprika.

Drain onions from milk.

Dredge in flour mixture and shake off excess.

Deep-fry until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes.

Drain on paper towels.

Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon of the paprika.

Roast Prime Rib au Poivre

Christmas to me is all about traditions and starting new one's. So I thought I would try to recreate The Keg's Prime Rib with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Frizzled Onions for New Year's Dinner. All in all I succeeded with the potatoes and onions, but the prime rib was a bloody mess. Seriously, cooking the roast to a suggested internal temperature of 120 degrees which is rare (the internal temperature will rise another 10 degrees for medium-rare when the roast is removed from the oven and let to stand, uncovered, 30 minutes before carving. This lets the juices re-distribute throughout the roast.) is still raw to me. I put the roast back in the oven and brought the internal temperature to 150 degrees which is more medium well. The roast was still slightly pink in the center and more well done outside offering different degrees of doneness for different tastes. A meat thermometer is really the only way to go here as opposed to timing! I will post the recipes for the onions and potatoes seperately. Happy New Year and Enjoy!

P.S. Leftovers slices are delicious pan fried with some eggs for New Year's Day breakfast or brunch!

Roast Prime Rib au Poivre(from Bon Appetit Magazine)

1 9-pound prime rib beef roast (about 4 ribs), excess fat trimmed
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon mixed whole peppercorns, coarsely crushed

1/3 cup minced shallots
3 1/2 cups canned beef broth
1/3 cup Cognac or brandy

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 450°F. Place beef, fat side up, in shallow roasting pan. Sprinkle beef with salt. Mix mustard and garlic in small bowl. Spread mustard mixture over top of beef. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons crushed peppercorns over mustard mixture.
Roast beef 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F. Roast until meat thermometer inserted into center of beef registers 125°F. for medium-rare, tenting loosely with foil if crust browns too quickly, about 2 hours 45 minutes. Transfer beef to platter. Tent with foil to keep warm.
Pour pan juices into 2-cup glass measuring cup (do not clean pan). Freeze juices 10 minutes. Spoon fat off top of pan juices, returning 1 tablespoon fat to roasting pan. Reserve juices.
Melt fat in same roasting pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté until tender, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Add canned beef broth, then Cognac (liquid may ignite). Return pan to heat and boil until liquid is reduced to 2 cups, about 15 minutes. Add pan juices and remaining 1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns. Transfer pan juices to sauceboat.
Carve roast and serve with juices.

Here are two other tasty pan sauces:

2 cups beef stock
sprig of thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried
worchestershire to taste
salt and freshly ground pepper

or

1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 small sprig of rosemary
1 small sprig of thyme
1 garlic clove, smashed
salt and freshly ground pepper

Toblerone Topped Caramel Cheesecake

Today is Mom's 69th birthday and I asked her what kind of cake she would like. I suggested this one as I had heard Holly talking about how she had made one and Mom loves Toblerone. The recipe originally is from Kraft, however I changed up the recipe a little. Holly and the gang suggested a graham crust over an oreo crust. I also added extra chocolate right over the crust before pouring in the filling. I would also suggest melting a small bag of kraft caramels and pouring over the top as opposed to the caramel ice cream topping. It ran out of the sides of the pan in the fridge and across the kitchen floor as I took it out of the fridge.


What You Need!
1-1/4 cups OREO Baking Crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 pkg. (250 g each) PHILADELPHIA Brick Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1/3 cup caramel ice cream topping
1 bar (100 g) TOBLERONE Swiss Milk Chocolate, coarsely chopped

Make It!HEAT oven to 350ºF.

MIX crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

BAKE 40 to 45 min. or until centre is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours. Spread caramel topping over cheesecake just before serving. Garnish with chopped chocolate.

Outragious Coconut Cake

Tonight is our book club meeting and we thought this would be a nice winter dessert. It was a bit time consuming to make, but well worth the effort. I really liked making the meringue and I got to stick my fingers in it to make the peaks, not to mention I got to use my blow torch.

Banana Bread

This recipe comes from The Martha Stewart web site. The batter for this easy to bake banana bread is enriched with the addition of sour cream. Well, I didn't have any sour cream. So I threw in a 1/2 cup of Marscapone Cheese instead. Delicious! Moist! Oh, don't make the same mistake I made and throw in 3 mashed bananas. Measure them!

Ingredients

Makes 1 loaf

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
2.In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.
3.Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Sloppy Joes

I have no idea how I got these in my mind. However, I decided to make a batch for supper. The recipe I used was basically ground beef, onion, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and dry mustard. Not bad for a first attempt and I was going to post the recipe I used, but while watching the Food Network there was a show about Sloppy Joes. Chef Bobby Flay challenged the Schnipper brothers who are famous in Times Square New York for their Sloppy Joes against his. The brothers discussed a couple of key ingredients like Ground Beef, Onion, Red and Green Pepper, NO CELERY, Sweet Paprika, Brown Sugar, Red Wine Vinegar, Worchestershire, and a secret ingredient which I belive may be Coke. Yes Coke, it was in some of hundreds of Sloppy Joe recipes I looked at on line this weekend. They also said to make the sauce a day ahead to develop the flavors. Anyway, this is the recipe I came up with. Also, check out the Schnipper brothers under my links.

Sloppy Joes

Ingredients
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 small green pepper, finely chopped
• 1 small red pepper, finely chopped
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard or 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper
Directions
In a large skillet, brown ground beef just until pink color is gone. Remove from pan and set aside.
Drain the fat except 1 tablespoon, add onion and peppers. Sauté until onions and peppers are soft, about 5 minutes.
Stir in remaining ingredients, ground beef, simmer covered, 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If Joes appear too’ loose', leave cover off and let moisture evaporate.
Cook until it's the consistency you like for serving on toasted buns, with french fries and cole slaw.