Breath of the Wild – Page 2

Meat Pie

June 22, 2018by Teri Mae19 Comments

It’s been a while. I know this. I have no apology. But what I do have is this incredible and easy Meat Pie recipe. Trust me, you’ll accidentally eat every single one the second they cool down enough to shove into your mouth. And you won’t even feel bad about it. So in honor of that feeling, let’s get rid of all guilt associated with not posting for a while and just get on with the show!

OH! And as a side note, I finished exploring every. little. section and area of BotW except the final castle. It’s done! And tonight I’m totally finishing the castle. Here’s hoping I find the last few things I’m missing there…

And without further waiting on your end:

Meat Pie

Start by making the pastry dough. This has to chill for at least an hour so it should always be your first step. If you want to make the dough far ahead it can be chilled up to overnight in the fridge before use. So make life, and dinner, a little easier on yourself and make it when you have a spare 10 minutes.

Put some water into a cup and add a cube or two of ice. The colder the water, the better the pastry will turn out. Add the flour to a bowl and cut up the cold (it must be cold, just like the pie crust recipe in Apple Pie) butter into 1-2 tablespoon chunks.

Now let’s rub the cold butter into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs with some pea-sized chunks of butter left. You don’t want it too fine or you won’t get a nice flaky crust! … maybe next time I’ll make a gif of how to do this. I’m just now realizing that would probably be nice…

Now add 2/3 cup water to the dough and mix until it completely comes together and forms a ball. This is a far more forgiving recipe than my pie crust (even though the method is the same) so a little extra handling won’t necessarily hurt it… but I wouldn’t work it too much. You should still see large chunks of butter in your dough.

Split it in half and press into a square shape about an inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready for it.

Now, the key to the filling on this meat pie is dicing everything up really small. Like, say, 1/4 inch cubes. This goes for the carrots, the onion, and the roast. Normally with my recipes size doesn’t really matter. But in this case we want everything to cook properly and be able to squish as much as possible in the little pastry cases, so size becomes very important.

Once they’re all cut up put them together in a bowl and mix with a spoon to combine. Add all the spices and stir until the spices coat everything. I’d start with the smallest amount of spices and then, based on look and smell (please don’t taste it! There’s raw meat in there…) add the rest if you feel like it’s necessary. I, personally, use all the spices. I like my food to have some flavor! Also – yeah, yeah, I know that meat pie doesn’t traditionally have random vegetables thrown in. But I can’t really make something like this, which feels like a full meal, without adding at least one vegetable to it. So it’ll be fine.

Take the dough from the refrigerator and lightly flour a large surface. Place the dough on the surface and roll it out into a large rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick.

Start by rolling in once direction several times until it makes a large square. Then rotate it 90°, add more flour under the dough, and roll it out until it forms your triangle. Repeat with the other piece, making sure both are the same size.

Take the largest round cutter you have (mine happened to be 3.5 inches long) and cut circles into your pastry. Cut the same amount of circles into each pastry rectangle – these will serve as your bottom and your top. If you’re really feeling ambitious you can gather the scraps and roll them out once more for even more pies. I didn’t really feel like doing that so I simply threw the scraps away. If you’re feeling lazy and the idea of wasted scraps horrifies you, simply cut the pastry into an equal amount (and equal sizes) of squares on both pastries and call it good. It’s all about presentation and how much you’re willing to give to it.

Transfer half of the square/circle pastries to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Fill each square/circle with your meat filling. Now, we want to fill to within 1/2 inch of the sides of the pastry case and we want it to be no more than stacked double in the center. That’s very specific, I know, but if you fill it too much the case will either split mid-bake or you’ll be unable to get the top on in the first place!

Next, dip your fingers into water and brush the empty edges of the pastries. Lay the last half of the pastries on top of the first half to make enclosed pies. Gently press the pastries halves together with your fingers and then seal with a fork by pressing into the edges. This will crimp the pastries together and (fingers crossed) hopefully prevent them from leaking. After your pastries are crimped poke 3-4 holes in the top. It helps release the steam to prevent mini explosions in your oven

Whisk an egg with a fork and brush the top of the pastries with the beaten egg. This will give you a nice, beautiful, crispy, shiny crust! The best kind, in my opinion! Place in the oven and bake for about 45-60 minutes, or until the pastries are nice and browned and/or and internal temperature has been reached of about 165ish. We can be less specific because we’re using roast and beef instead of poultry.

Remove from the oven and serve warm!

Link’s Meat Pie recipe:

- - Any Meat
  - Goat Butter
  - Rock Salt
  - Tabantha Wheat

Meat Pie

Servings: 13 3 inch pies
Time: 2 hour prep time, 1 hour bake time
Difficulty: moderate
Print

Meat pies with carrots and onion

Pastry

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons (455g) all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 5 tablespoons (300g) cold butter, cut into tablespoons
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (150ml) ice cold water

Filling

1 pound beef roast
2 medium carrots
1/4 medium onion
2-3 teaspoons salt
2-3 teaspoons garlic powder
1-2 teaspoons black pepper

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 400°F and add some ice to a small cup of water.
Add the flour and salt to a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into tablespoon-sized pieces. Add the butter to the flour and begin rubbing it between your fingers while adding flour. This will create a breadcrumb-like texture. Make sure you leave some butter pieces as large as peas.
Add 2/3 cup of your ice water and mix until combined. There should still be chunks of butter visible in the dough.
Split the dough into two equal pieces, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least an hour but up to overnight.
Dice the roast, carrots, and onion into small 1/4 inch cubes. Place them in a bowl and mix with a spoon until combined.
Add the smaller amount of spices and then, based on look and smell add the rest if you feel it’s necessary. I, personally, use all the spices. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
Take the dough from the refrigerator and lightly flour a large surface. Place the dough on the surface and roll it out into a large rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick.
Roll the dough by rolling in once direction several times until it makes a large square. Then rotate it 90°, add more flour under the dough, and roll it out until it forms your triangle.
Repeat with the other piece, making sure both are the same size.
Using a large round cutter cut circles into your pastry. Repeat on the other half of the pastry dough, ensuring you have the same amount of circles on each side. You may gather the scraps and re-roll the dough to cut more circles if you wish, but only re-roll once to prevent a tough pastry. Or, alternatively, cut your pastry into even squares, ensuring there’s an even number on each half.
Transfer half of the square/circle pastries to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Fill each square/circle with your meat filling to within 1/2 inch of the sides of the pastry case and no more than stacked double in the center.
Dip your fingers into water and brush the empty edges of the pastries.
Lay the last half of the pastries on top of the first half to make enclosed pies. Gently press the pastries halves together with your fingers and then seal with a fork by pressing into the edges. Poke 3-4 holes in the top.
Whisk an egg with a fork and brush the top of the pastries with the beaten egg. Place in the oven and bake for about 45-60 minutes, or until the pastries are nice and browned and/or and internal temperature has been reached of about 165ish. Serve warm.

Recipes

A Year Ago…

May 30, 2018May 30, 2018by Teri Mae10 Comments

Hey, friendly followers who stick with me through thick and thin! Guess what today is? It’s officially 1 year since I posted my very first recipe. Can you believe that?! One year! And look how far we’ve all come! I’ve got followers, a twitter account, exciting new recipes, collaborations, and friends in foreign countries. This blog thing has turned out to be one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made. And even though I’m still not posting regularly (this time thanks to my garden and backyard: photos on Instagram tomorrow if you want to see them!) I’m getting better and you are all so supportive I feel like it’s all okay. That everything is okay.

So thank you to the people who have supported me, pushed me, and helped me get from point A to here in the last year. In other words – thank you to all of you! In honor of this auspicious anniversary here is a reblog of my very first recipe: Wildberry Crepes!

What seems like an eternity ago my husband and I went to Paris. This was easily one of the best experiences of my life and I brought back a serious love for french pastries. I set out determined to master every single one I had eaten. The easiest to master was the crepe. My high school french teacher taught me how to make his secret recipe, weaseled out of the corner crepe stand proprietor while he was living in France. I already had a lot of experience making them before my trip but I was able to perfect it after watching the way the locals made them. So when I accidentally made a crepe in Breath of the Wild I was so excited! Link could make crepes! It felt so cool to make something in the game that I love making in real life. This made the decision of which recipe to create first simple. It had to be the crepes that had brought me so much joy.

Hylian Wildberry Crepes:

The equipment for this recipe is pretty straight forward: a bowl for the batter, a whisk, measuring materials, a piping bag if you’re feeling fancy, and a frying pan or crepe pan. I make crepes so often it was worth every penny to buy a really amazing crepe pan. I use Le Creuset. I love their cast iron quality and the spatula and rateau (spreading) tools are perfect.

Crepes start with some forethought because they are best if there’s very little air in the batter. They make a smoother surface with no pockets or holes for the delicious insides to ooze out of. Eggs, milk, flour, and butter are whisked together until there are no lumps. This may take a minute or so. The flour can get really finicky when added to the egg mixture.

In order to get rid of all that pesky air a piece of plastic wrap is pressed down onto the surface of the batter, the bowl is given a few gentle shakes, and the entire thing is put in the refrigerator to rest for at least an hour. Since I usually make crepes for breakfast I make the batter the night before, that way they are fresh and ready for the morning.

Gently cutting in any butter that may have come out of solution is key! You didn’t let it sit for an hour just to ruin it now! Pans should be heated on medium low and butter should be added to the entire surface. Don’t skimp out on me now, we are making crepes not a salad! Add the first half cup of batter, spreading it by tilting a frying pan or using the rateau with a crepe pan. First crepes are a sacrifice to the Goddess: it’s meant to be made made and then promptly thrown away. If your sacrifice has been accepted you won’t need to butter your pan again.

Every crepe is an adventure. The amount of batter you add and your attention to spreading will produce different sizes and different shapes. The challenge is to get each one perfect. It’s definitely a super gut check challenge. Easier with pratice, the right elixers, and the right gear.

Only the best berries should be used, which usually means purchasing in-season. These wildberry crepes feature strawberries, the current berry-of-the-month. My favorite, however, are raspberries! Use whatever feels right. Wildberry is vague, allowing for some fantastic judgement calls. To make them a little syrupy dip the cut side of the berry into sugar and allow it to sit for a few minutes.

You can pipe or dollop the whipped cream. Honestly, after the pretty photo shoot was over, my husband and I stood over the crepe pan spooning on the cream and berries faster than I could make them.

Link’s Wildberry Crepe recipe:

- Fresh Milk
- Bird Egg
- Tabantha Wheat
- Cane Sugar
- Wildberry

Hylian Wildberry Crepes

Servings: 6-8 crepes
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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Crepes with berries and whipped cream from Breath of the Wild

Crepes

3 eggs
1 cup milk, any percentage will do
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour, sifted
3-4 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling

24-32 small strawberries, 3-4 per crepe
1 cup whipping creme or heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar plus a few pinches for dusting berries

Directions

Whisk together eggs and milk until smooth. Slowly add sifted flour and salt and whisk until combined. Add butter and continue whisking until the batter is smooth with no flour lumps.
Gently press a piece of plastic wrap down into the bowl to rest on top of the batter and cover it entirely. Refrigerate and allow to rest for at least one hour.
While the batter is refrigerating prepare the berries and whipped cream.
Cut strawberries in half and lightly cover the cut side in sugar. Allow to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to produce a little syrupy goodness.
Whipping cream can be made three ways: a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, a blender, or a bowl and hand mixer with a whisk attachment. For any of these options add the whipping cream to the blender or bowl and whisk on high. Slowly add the sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks form and the cream becomes shiny.
When the batter is ready gently peel back the plastic wrap. It is perfectly normal for some batter to stick to the wrap. In fact, if it doesn’t, you may not have pressed the plastic down enough. Some butter may have separated at this point. Using a knife or spoon gently cut and turn the batter until uniform.
Heat pan on medium low until hot. Add butter to cover the surface of the pan. Add 1/2 cup batter to the pan and twist or spread using a rateau until the batter covers the bottom of the pan. Allow to sit for about 1 minute until the bottom sets up. Flip the crepe and cook about 1 minute more until lightly browned. Throw this first crepe away. It usually has too much butter to taste really good.
Continue adding 1/2 – 2/3 cup batter at a time to the pan without re-greasing the pan and follow step 7 for cooking instructions.
Remove from pan and immediately pipe or spoon on whipped cream and strawberries. Crepes are best enjoyed hot but are still delicious cold. They do not store well so make and enjoy all your crepes that day!

Recipes

Nutcake Take 2

April 18, 2018April 18, 2018by Teri Mae18 Comments

I wasn’t intending on repeating and improving recipes this early, but frankly, it had to be done. Ever since I posted that Nutcake recipe I’ve been upset and embarrassed by it. Not because anyone said anything bad about it. Simply because I hate it. I don’t think it tastes very good. It’s dry and crumbly and nothing like a nice, cakey quick bread should be. So I’ve improved it. And trust me when I say that it is improved! So much better than the last recipe that I just want to pretend it never happened. Plus, this one feels like a happy medium between a rich, winter cakey bread and a fresh, springy cakey bread. Perfect for this time of year!

Nutcake Take 2

We start by toasting the walnuts. This step, while seemingly tedious, is what gives the cake the most delicious flavor. It brings out all the nutty sweetness that you crave in something like this. Place the whole walnuts on a baking sheet in a single layer (none on top of each other). Toast at 350°F for about 10-12 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Then take them out and let them cool. It’s an easy way to take your recipes to the next level and you should definitely get in the habit of doing it every time!

The next step is mixing together the dry ingredients. Flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. Give it a few stirs with a whisk to incorporate some air into the mixture. It’s almost as good as sifting but it’s half the effort! Make a well in the center of the mixture.

Let’s add all the wet ingredients to the top of the dry ingredients. Now, you can be fancy and mix your wet ingredients away from your dry ingredients and then add them at a later date, but who wants two bowls to clean instead of one? As the queen of baking-and-hating-dishes-so-they-pile-up-forever I never use more bowls than I absolutely have to. Once the wets are on top of the drys simple whisk the wet ingredients together without incorporating any of the dry. It’s that easy.

When the wet ingredients are thoroughly mixed switch to a spoon and start stirring together all the ingredients. When it’s all together and no dry bits remain let it sit for a minute. We don’t want to overmix it so as soon as the dry stuff is all wet you’re done! Think of it like charging an attack. You want to charge it enough to be effective but overcharging won’t give you more power, it’ll just take Link out of control and exhaust him before the next strike. Overmix now and your nutcake will turn out flat and dense and not ready for consumption at all… (yeah, I know that was a stretch… but I feel like there’s a definite lack of Zelda references in my posts lately and I’m trying to make it work).

Let the batter sit while you chop the cooled walnuts. I like mine to be in half’s but if you want smaller pieces, simply chop them more. Lay them on a cutting board, and roughly cut them with a large knife until they’re the perfect size for you!

Add the nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg to the batter and stir gently until everything is mixed together. But again, no overstirring at this point! Just until everything looks even.

Butter and flour a loaf tin. Rub the butter in the pan until all the cracks and surfaces are slathered. Then sprinkle in flour until all the butter is covered. Tip the tin over and pat the bottom to remove excess flour.

Add your batter and smooth it out with a spoon. It’ll be thick and gooey and oh, so delicious-looking. Add some more walnuts (the chopped but not toasted ones) on top and bake! A cake tester should come out clean when it’s done. Baking time is so fickle based on your oven and the will of the goddesses. Mine took about 45 minutes. I’d start watching it closely at 40. The top will crack and everything will look set, no wobbly bits. Wait until the cake is completely cooled before removing it from the pan. If it’s still warm it may be annoying and stick. Serve with whipped cream (which you can find a recipe for in the fruitcake recipe) and enjoy!

Link’s Nutcake

- Tabantha Wheat
- Cane Sugar
- Goat Butter
- Any Nut

Nutcake Take 2

Servings: 1 loaf
Time: 1-1.5 hours
Difficulty: easy
Print

Another look at Link's Breath of the Wild Nutcake recipe, this time much improved!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup walnuts for toasting
1/2 cup walnuts for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F
Toast the walnuts. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes.
Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. Give it a few stirs with a whisk to incorporate some air into the mixture. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
All the wet ingredients to the top of the dry ingredients. Whisk the wet ingredients together without incorporating any of the dry.
When the wet ingredients are thoroughly mixed switch to a spoon and start stirring together all the ingredients. When it’s all together and no dry bits remain let it sit for one minute. Be cautious not to overmix the batter at this point. Stir only until there are no more dry ingredients visible. The batter will be slightly lumpy.
Chop the cooled walnuts by laying them on a cutting board, and roughly cut them with a large knife until they’re in rough halves.
Add the nuts, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the batter and stir gently until everything is mixed together. Don’t overmix! Just stir until everything looks even.
Butter and flour a loaf tin. Rub the butter in the pan until all the cracks and surfaces are slathered. Then sprinkle in flour until all the butter is covered. Tip the tin over and pat the bottom to remove excess flour.
Add your batter and smooth it out with a spoon. Add the untoasted, chopped walnuts to the top. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean from the center, about 40-55 minutes. Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!

Recipes

Vegetable Curry

March 21, 2018March 21, 2018by Teri Mae8 Comments

Let’s talk about sheer dumb luck for a second. By that, I mean the sheer dumb luck I’ve been having making some of these recipes. Guys, a lot of this stuff I’ve never made before. Ever. Some of these recipes have, by some miraculous intervention, worked out perfectly first try. Yeah, yeah, some of that is the skills and knowledge I’ve built up over years of binge-watching cooking shows and always being willing to try new techniques. But honest, some of it has to be luck. Perfectly-placed-one-shot-to-a-guardian’s-eye-when-he’s-flying-all-over-the-place luck. I’ve always dreamed about making Indian food, but I’ve never been brave enough to pull the trigger. When I finally decide it’s time to start and I find a recipe that I feel like I can tweak and love, it turns out not only amazing, but incredible. I surprised myself by how much I loved this recipe. Goodbye $30.00 take-out once every other week because we love Indian food that much. Hello homemade curry for half or less that cost and so many leftovers we begged people to come eat it… True story.

One time my brother-in-law told me that Breath of the Wild helped him finally gain the confidence he needed to tackle D.I.Y. projects around the house. Video games aren’t just about playing a game, trying a new media, or even experiencing a new story. The skills people learn from gaming can shape their lives in a very positive way. My entire life I’ve been excellent at puzzles and problem solving. It’s one of the reasons I became a scientist. Now, part of that is personality and the brain I was born with. But a decent helping of it came from countless hours playing puzzle-based games, like Zelda, which helped train my brain to solve complex ideas with limited resources. And having the confidence to try new things, fiddle with ideas, and tackle your fears is what we gamers do best! So guys, don’t be scared. I promise there are very few ways you can screw up this recipe. Give it a shot and I’m betting you’ll have a new staple for your weekly meal rotation… or however you determine dinner menus….

Vegetable Curry

First thing’s first – I forgot a overhead shot of all the ingredients. Sorry! I got so caught up in cooking everything was used and unphotographable before I realized it…

We start by getting everything ready. It’s really the very best place to start. Ooh! Also, this recipe is based on a coconut kurma, my absolute favorite Indian curry. In case you were wondering what we were going to make! Chop the veggies into large, but still bite size pieces (guys, I’m recognizing a theme over the last few posts…). Cauliflower, green beans, onions, and carrots. We’ve talked about the other veggies so often I think you’ve got it. If not, check out the Veggie Cream Soup recipe. It’ll go into plenty of detail. However, the green beans are new. You can use frozen but it’s starting to become summer around here and beans will very soon be nice and fresh! So if you buy fresh beans, simply chop off the ends and cut into inch-ish long pieces. That easy.

Now for mincing the garlic. I’ve kindly posted a video of how to do this, but let’s describe it, too. Hold the garlic steady between two fingers. Carefully slice the garlic into small strips, leaving the very end attached to each other (so the strips don’t separate). Rotate the garlic 90° and repeat the process. Then simply dice the garlic into very small pieces. Mince by rocking your knife through the pile several times and in several directions. Done!

Once everything is ready melt the butter on very low heat. We want it to be set to low. This is not a joke. We want to, as my very good friend says it, give the garlic and spices a nice Jacuzzi before we actually start to cook them. It’ll give the garlic more time to sweat without burning and will bring out a lot more of the flavor. It’s a slower process but absolutely worth it!

After the butter is melted add all the spices, including the garlic. Stir around until everything is combined and allow to heat for several minutes. You’re house will, at this point, start to smell amazing and you’ll start to get very hungry. Continue cooking on low and stirring every minute or so for about 5ish minutes.

Once the spices are ready add the onion and slowly start to turn up the heat, a degree at a time every minute, until you get to medium. Sweat the onions until translucent and covered in spices. Some of the spices may stick to the bottom of the pan at this point. Not to worry! We’ll deglaze it off!

While the spices and onions are cooking we need to do one thing: puree the tomatoes. Wash the tomatoes well and place them in a blender or food processor (maybe? I don’t know if you can puree tomatoes in a food processor). Blend until pureed. Complicated, right? If you really insist on using only canned goods for everything just follow the same process but with canned tomatoes. You’ll need one can for this. But it’s so easy with fresh you may as well get the delightful flavor of fresh for just as much work!

If you’re unfamiliar with deglazing you really should check out the Prime Meat Stew recipe for details. But it can be boiled down to this: when the pan is hot add room temp liquid and scrape the bottom of the pan. Add more liquid as necessary and all those spices will come right up! So slowly add the tomato puree and deglaze the pan!

Next add all the coconut milk and heavy whipping cream in one go. Whisk until completely combined. Add the brown sugar, whisk, and bring to a boil. Once it’s there simply lower to a simmer and add the green beans, carrots, and cauliflower. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.

While the curry starts to simmer start the rice. One of these days I’ll learn, and then share, how to cook rice in a pot on the stove. But for now let’s stick with the rice cooker. And, quite frankly, I use so much rice in these recipes if you’re going to make them you should invest in one yourself. Jasmine or Basmati rice is particularly good for Indian food. However, I’m so set in my sushi rice ways I just use Calrose for everything. So experiment if you want, but it’s okay to stick with the classics. Simply wash the rice several times, fill it up to your first knuckle when your finger rests on top of the rice, cover and hit the start button. It’s that easy.

When your 15 minute timer is up it’s time to add the peas (frozen, so they cook slower and don’t get mushy), cashews, and golden raisins. The raisins’ll get nice and plump because they’ll soak up all that delicious liquid and the cashews will soften up nicely. Simmer until the rice is done, stirring every so often. Again, we don’t want anything to burn!

Serve over (or if you want to be picture accurate) next to your rice and enjoy!

Link’s Vegetable Curry

- Any carrot or pumpkin
- Hylian Rice
- Goron Spice

Vegetable Curry

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: moderately easy
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Vegetables in a creamy coconut kurma curry sauce

Recipe adapted from North and Mouth’s “New and Improved Bombay House Chicken Coconut Kurma”

Ingredients

1/2 head of cauliflower
2 medium carrots
1 small onion
3 teaspoons minced garlic
1 handful fresh green beans (very scientific, I know)
1.5 cup frozen peas
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup roasted cashews
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1.5 teaspoons tumeric
cayenne/red pepper, 1/4 tsp for mild, 3/4 tsp for medium, 1.25 tsp for hot
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
3 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons brown sugar
15 ounces pureed tomato, about 3 medium tomatoes
1 15oz can coconut milk, full fat
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
white rice to serve, about 2 cups uncooked and 5 cups of water

Directions

Chop the cauliflower and carrots into large, bite-sized pieces. Dice the onion into small pieces. Cut the ends of the green beans and cut into 1 inch pieces.
Finely mince the garlic by holding the garlic steady between two fingers. Carefully slice the garlic into small strips, leaving the very end attached to each other (so the strips don’t separate). Rotate the garlic 90° and repeat the process. Dice the cut strips into very small pieces. Mince by rocking your knife through the pile several times and in several directions.
In a heavy-bottomed pot melt the butter on low heat.
When the butter is completely melted add all the spices, including the garlic. Stir until combined and allow to heat for several minutes. Continue cooking on low and stirring every minute or so for about 5 minutes.
Add the onion and slowly turn up the heat, a degree at a time every minute, until you get to medium. Sweat the onions until translucent and covered in spices.
While the spices and onions are cooking puree the tomatoes. Wash the tomatoes well and place them in a blender or food processor. Blend until pureed.
When the onions are translucent add a small amount of pureed tomato to the pan and scrape hard to deglaze the spices from the bottom. Repeat until all spices are removed from the bottom and are mixed in to the puree.
Add all the coconut milk and heavy whipping cream. Whisk until completely combined. Add the brown sugar, whisk, and bring to a boil.
Once the mixture is boiling lower heat to a simmer. Add the green beans, carrots, and cauliflower.
Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.
While the curry is cooking make the rice. Wash rice three times in water, fill with water to the first knuckle when your finger rests on top of the rice, cover and hit the start button on your rice cooker.
When your curry has simmered for 15 minutes add the frozen peas, cashews, and golden raisins.
Simmer until the rice is done, stirring every so often.
When the rice is cooked serve curry over the rice and enjoy!

Recipes

Prime Meat Stew

March 13, 2018March 13, 2018by Teri Mae5 Comments

I realize I totally fell off the goal train last month. I’m sorry for not writing as many posts as I claimed I would. I got pretty caught up in the goal I was focusing on for February and sort of ignored EVERYTHING else. Not good, I know, but at least hopefully understandable? But it’s okay because this month is focusing on my social goal a.k.a. focusing here! YAY! I’m working on getting a backlog of recipes (for when I don’t have time to post), organizing my thankful recipes (for the upcoming months), and writing a couple of thoughts posts. I’m also working on being better about reading on commenting on all of your wonderful blogs. I know that community is the thing I struggle most with… and for that I am sorry! You guys are all so great to be here and I want to be there for you, too.

One more thing I’m working on for this month? Brainstorming a way to get videos to you all so you can follow along with me and learn some new skills. After my poll, where a Twitch stream was the overwhelming favorite, I feel like I actually do want to help everyone up their cooking game. This isn’t about making it pretty or cutting out vital pieces to make a succinct video. It’s about teaching you the techniques I use to help the people who keep commenting “they can’t cook” feel like they can. Because trust me, if my self-taught self can do this, so can you!

Oh! And one last thing before we get one with it. You guys are the best.

Prime Meat Stew

One of my favorite things about these BotW recipe’s is trying to take some really strange additions to normal meals and make them into a reality. This recipe is no exception. Why on earth would you add wheat to a stew? And how can I make a beef stew with something like milk? It’s just weird, people. Weird. But that’s what makes it fun! So get ready for a surprisingly delicious recipe. P.S. this recipe makes a lot. I like having stew for leftovers for days. If you don’t, you’ll want to scale it back.

This recipe started when I accidentally purchased the most expensive roast of my life. Here’s how it went.

Me: Do you have chuck roast in your Prime beef?

Butcher: Nope. We have rib roast, though. Would you like that?

Me, super naively: Sure! Is that like a regular roast?

Butcher: Yep.

Me: Let’s do it.

Cut to him handing me the 2 pound package of roast.

Me: *Checks price on package. Price says $45.00* Oh.

So, while the beef was definitely insanely delicious, I don’t recommend doing what I did. However, with the information we learned about the different levels of quality with beef in this Salt Grilled Prime Meat recipe, I knew I needed prime… Do I recommend using it to you readers? Only if you have a lot of money you like to very quickly eat away. Will I ever do this again? Well, it’s a bit too rich for my bank account. But it was amazing. So what should you use instead? Any rump, chuck, or stew roast will do nicely. That’s what I usually use and it turns out like a dream.

So now that we’ve got the “Prime” out of the way we needed to figure out how to add those strange Breath of the Wild ingredients. The first one: Tabantha Wheat. It feels like a bit of a cheat but I simply dredged my meat in flour before searing it. Have you ever had a stew where the meat breaks up into tiny little pieces because it’s perfectly braised? Annoying because you can’t get a full piece of meat, but delicious, right? Well, dredging prevents it from breaking up into tiny pieces. It gives the meat a bit of a crust to stew in and holds it together until you decide to chew, leaving you with the perfect, falling apart bite. So let’s start with cutting the roast into cubes, about an inch squared. Then add flour, salt, and pepper to the cubes and roll them around to completely coat each one. It’s pretty easy. You can totally do this.

Add the oil to the bottom of a heavy-bottom pan. I used a pot because I was silly. A pan works just as well. As I’ve mentioned in… pretty much all of my previous posts, I love cast iron and use it almost exclusively for pans. But a regular pan will work just fine as long as it can handle high heat and then sustained low heat… so, like, a regular pan with a lid. Heat the oil on medium high and, once it’s hot, starting adding the dredged meat.

Don’t add it all together. We really need to shake off the excess flour, because excess flour sticks to the bottom and makes it even more of a mess to clean than it already will be. Oh! By the way, this will be a mess to clean. So grab a handful of meat, shake it to remove excess flour, add it to the pan, queue to 3rd grade boys laughing hysterically. Continue doing this until all the meat is added. Then stir continuously with a plastic or wood (never metal) spatula until all the beef is browned and beautiful.

During this process you will get a brown crust sticking to the bottom of the pan. That’s totally normal. It’s called a fond (French for “bottom”) and provides some of the best flavor to any sauteed or braised meat. If you stirred continuously and scraped the bottom of the pan often, like you should have, the fond won’t be a thick layer. If you didn’t… like me… you’ll get stuck with a thick fond, which is harder to handle. The way to scrape up this delicious flavor and add it to the stew is to deglaze the pan. It’s easy. The next step has us adding beef broth to the pan to braise the meat for an hour. To deglaze, simply add a few tablespoons only at a time. When you do that it sizzles and creates steam. While it’s sizzling scrape the bottom of the pan. The fond will scrape up and leave you with some nice flavor. If the liquid gets soaked up before you’re done scraping just add a little more, and, while it sizzles, scrape the rest. If you have a thick layer it’ll more difficult (maybe even impossible) to scrape it all up. That’s fine. It just makes clean up harder. If you have a thin layer it’ll be a piece of cake.

Once the fond is scraped and removed from the pan add 2-3 cups of broth, until the meat is barely covered, and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, lower the heat to a rolling simmer, cover, and allow to simmer for an hour. During this hour make sure you check at least every 10 minutes to stir the meat (so it doesn’t stick and burn) and to make sure all the broth hasn’t boiled off. If it’s getting low, simply add more.

While the meat is cooking cut up the veggies. We just want to dice the carrots, onion, and celery into large, bite size pieces, like I have you do in my Veggie Cream Soup. If you’re using fresh herbs strip them from the stalks and mince. Again, let’s not belabor something I’ve already taught you so check out the Veggie Cream Soup if you want to remember how. I don’t dice up the potatoes until the very end because potatoes exposed to oxygen will turn black (an oxidation of the starchy liquid, for those science nerds out there). If you do want to dice the potatoes now simply place them in a bowl and cover them entirely with water. It’ll act as a barrier to the oxygen so they shouldn’t go black.

When the hour is almost up let’s move on to how I added milk to this recipe. I’ve never, in my life, added milk to a beef stew. It was a puzzle worthy of being it’s own shrine (though not dungeon). So I turned to an old-fashioned roux. But instead of using a roux to thicken the stew with broth (which is the normal route, for heaven’s sake, Link) we are going to use a little milk and then finish it up with broth. Complicated, but necessary to include that odd ingredient.

I feel like I mention it so often you don’t need the link, but for instructions on how to make a roux, check it out in Fish Pie. Heat butter on medium in a heavy-bottom saucepan, add flour a bit at a time once the butter has melted completely, whisk until thickened and bubbly. Now add the milk all at once and whisk until combined, smooth, and thick. At this point add 3 cups of beef broth, 1 cup at a time, and whisk until thick and smooth. Once that mixture is ready dump all the beef and remaining liquid from your meat into the sauce. Be careful. Since everything is hot you don’t want to get splashed and burned. Add the vegetables, herbs, and more salt and pepper to taste. Add another cup of beef broth and stir until homogeneous. Bring liquid to a boil and then lower to a gentle simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and cooked through. Serve and be delighted! P.S. this recipe goes really well with Becky’s Rolls.

Link’s Prime Meat Stew

- Rock Salt
- Hylian Rice
- Hearty Blueshell Snail or any Porgy

Prime Meat Stew

Servings: 8-10
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: moderate
Print

Roast beef stew with carrots, celery, and potatoes

Ingredients

2 pounds chuck, rump, or other stew roast
6 celery stalks
5 medium carrots
4 medium potatoes, any variety
1 tablespoon dried oregano or 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme, or 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1 medium onion
8-10 cups beef broth
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour, plus 3-4 tablespoons for dredging
2-3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Directions

Cut the roast into 1 inch square cubes
Add the 3-4 tablspoons dredging flour, about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the cubes and roll them around to completely coat each one.
Add oil to the bottom of a heavy-bottom pan. Heat the oil on medium high.
Add the dredged meat, one handful at a time, first shaking off the excess flour. Continue until all meat has been added.
Stir continuously with a plastic or wood spatula until all the beef is browned.
Remove the fond by adding 2-3 tablespoons beef broth to the pan and remove the fond by scraping. Repeat until all the fond has been removed.
Add 2-3 cups of water, until the beef is barely covered, and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, lower the heat to a rolling simmer, cover, and allow to simmer for an hour. During this hour make sure you check at least every 10 minutes to stir the meat. If the broth level is getting low simply add more.
While the meat is cooking cut up the carrots, onion, and celery into large, bite-sized pieces. If you’re using fresh herbs strip them from the stalks and mince. Dice the potatoes when the meat has stewed for nearly the entire hour to prevent oxidation.
Heat, on medium, a large 6-7 quart heavy-bottom dutch oven or pot. Add the butter.
Once the butter is melted and bubbling, add half the flour and whisk continuously until it’s completely incorporated and thick. Add the remainder of the flour and repeat until combined and bubbling slightly.
Add the milk to the flour mixture and stir until homogeneous and thickened. Add 3 cups of beef broth, 1 cup at a time, and whisk until thick and smooth between each addition.
Once the sauce is ready add all the meat and the braising liquid to the sauce. Stir until combined.
Add the vegetables, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste to the stew and stir to combine. If there isn’t enough liquid to cover the vegetables add the remainder of the broth and stir until combined.
Bring stew to a boil and lower to a gentle simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and cooked through. Serve and be delighted!

Recipes

Seafood Fried Rice

February 16, 2018by Teri Mae11 Comments

It’s the first of two recipes this week! Since my mom lived in Taiwan for a few years when she was in her 20s we grew up eating Asian food (mainly Chinese and Taiwanese) made from scratch at home. Talk about an amazing childhood, right? Because of that I’m super picky about my Chinese and I usually just prefer to make it myself. Sounds complicated and too much to do, right? I mean, how do you take a delicious ethnic food and make it yourself? Well it’s actually super easy. Most east Asian food is just a combination of 4 things: sauce, veggies, a protein, and rice. Keep them separate and you’ve got the vast majority of Asian foods. Cook them together and you’ve got fried rice. So strap in, folks. We’re making the most delicious fried rice you’ve ever had!

Seafood Fried Rice

I hate to say it, but in reality you’re going to want a very big wok for this. I try not to force you to purchase new equipment for these recipes, but if you’re going to make proper and delicious Asian food at home, you’re going to need a wok. Large frying pans are the next best choice, but they’ll need to be awfully big to make up for a lack in wok. Pots won’t work at all – while there’s going to be plenty of space to keep all the ingredients, there’s not enough surface space to fry everything. You can heat a wok on high heat and, because of the way the wok is designed, the distribution will keep things from burning, but also keep everything hot enough to stir-fry instead of boil/burn/overcook. A wok is generally large enough to hold all the ingredients you’ll need to make really good Asian food, unlike most saute pans. And, lastly, a wok makes for a very healthy cooking surface – because of the way the wok is shaped you need less oil to cook than in a traditional saute pan.

So now, after that one paragraph, I’ve talked you into it and you’ve purchased the best wok you can afford, right? Good! Then congratulations! You are now the proud owner of one of my most-used pieces of kitchen equipment (note to self, that would be a great post someday). Wait – you’re telling me I didn’t convince you? Blast… Well you can still using a frying pan, it just won’t work as well. Pick the biggest one you’ve got (not a pot, just a frying pan) and let’s chat about ingredients.

Guys, I know you all wanted to see me make this with actual snails. But in reality, I’m not going to. Based on the photo and where Link picks these things up, I’m guessing they’re meant to just be shellfish. So, from now on, any recipe containing any of the variety of snails will be substituted with shellfish, usually shrimp. Trust me, you’ll thank me for that. And just like the Creamy Heart Soup we have to fudge a little in the real world.

First, we make the rice. Now, my wok is huge. My mom had one of her friends in Taiwan purchase a traditional wok for me for my birthday a few years ago and it can hold massive amounts of food. I’m guessing you weren’t that lucky. So I’ve toned down this recipe to fit a wok (or frying pan… sigh…) half the size of mine. That should (fingers crossed) work out alright. So let’s make rice, using the same directions I always post, but list in detail in the Meat and Rice Bowl recipe. Rinse the rice several times in water, fill it up with water to your first knuckle with your finger resting lightly on top of the rice, and turn on the rice cooker. One of these days I’m going to figure out how to make rice in a pot so I can teach you all how… but it is not this day! This day we use a rice cooker! For Gondor!

While the rice is cooking let’s chop the veggies. Measure out your peas (they don’t need to be thawed), wash your carrots, green onions, and cabbage, and let’s get going. Chop the carrots into larger bite-size pieces. Peel the outer leaves off the cabbage (this may just be a personal thing) and cut the cabbage in half. Slice into strips, turn the strips, and chop into small squares. Cut the green onions into inch long pieces and let’s do the shrimp.

Until recently I was incredibly nervous about working with raw shrimp. I was always afraid I would undercook it and get sick and die. As a microbiologist raw seafood is NOT on the menu. But once I discovered how easy it is and how delicious well-cooked shrimp is I’ll never go back. Most shrimp is frozen and farmed. It’s really the only way to get sustainably-sourced shrimp nowadays. That’s totally fine. Try to find something that still has it’s tail on but it deveined. While I know how to devein a shrimp I can’t go into it here. I don’t have any photos, you see, to show you. So take your properly thawed (put them in the fridge the night before in a ziplock bag. It’s as easy as that) shrimp and rinse them gently under cold water. Now take each shrimp and pull the tail off. Just place your knife along the tail, right up to where the tail meets the shell inside (so at the end of the flippers… fins? Then just pull. It’s super easy. Place them all in a bowl together and now we wait.

As soon as the rice is cooked heat your wok (or frying pan) on high, as hot as your stove will go. Add about 1-2 tablespoons oil and half the green onions. Now, it’s important you use the right kind of oil. You need a vegetable oil, an avocado oil, canola oil, something like that. Olive oil has a lower smoke point so it can’t handle the high heat we’re going for. When the green onions start popping add all the eggs and scramble until cooked. Don’t overcook them, we still want them soft and slightly squishy. Take them out of the pan/wok and set them aside.

Add more oil and the rest of the onions. Add the carrots, frozen peas, and cabbage. Stir fry (literally just stir as you fry) until the carrots are slightly tender, but not mushy. This’ll take anywhere from 5 minutes (if you have a wok) to 10 minutes. Take them out of the wok and again, set aside.

Add a smidgen more oil and, after 30 second or so, add the raw shrimp. Cook for several minutes (about 3) or until they are completely pink but not overdone. If they’re totally pink and really curling in a circle they’re probably a little overcooked. Once they start to show a little pink add the salt and continue to stir frying until pink all the way around.

Add the veggies back in and stir everything together. Add the rice and eggs and stir and mix until completely combined. Add all the soy sauce and stir until well-mixed. It’ll seem like a lot of soy sauce until it’s mixed completely. Once it is, maybe a minute or two, it’ll even out and be much better.

Serve and get ready for the compliments!

Link’s Seafood Fried Rice

- Rock Salt
- Hylian Rice
- Hearty Blueshell Snail or any Porgy

Seafood Fried Rice

Servings: 4 large servings
Time: 45 minutes, 20 minutes to cook rice, 25 minutes for fried rice
Difficulty: moderate
Print

Fried rice with shrimp, cabbage, carrots, eggs, and peas

Ingredients

1.25 cups calrose (or other sushi) rice
water to cook rice
3 eggs
2 carrots
1/3 head of cabbage
1 bunch green onions
1 cup frozen peas
15-20 raw shrimp, tail on, deveined
1 teaspoon salt
3 or so tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup soy sauce

Directions

Rinse the rice several times in water. Level the rice, place your forefinger gently on top of the rice, and add water until the level is up to your first knuckle. Cook in a rice cooker until done.
While the rice is cooking prepare the other ingredients. Measure out the peas and leave them frozen. Wash the carrots, green onions, and cabbage.
Slice and chop the carrots into large bite-size pieces. Peel the outer leaves off the cabbage and cut off the top third. Slice that third into strips, turn the strips, and chop into small squares. Cut the green onions into inch long pieces.
Ensure the shrimp has been thawed properly. They should be thawed in the fridge overnight in a sealed bag. Rinse the shrimp gently under cold water. Remove the tails by placing the edge of your knife along the tail, right up to where the tail meets the shell inside. Pull gently but firmly to remove the entire shrimp from the shell. Place all the shrimp in a bowl.
As soon as the rice is cooked heat your wok (or frying pan) on high, as hot as your stove will go. Add about 1-2 tablespoons oil and half the green onions. When the green onions start popping add all the eggs and scramble until cooked. Don’t overcook them, we still want them soft and slightly squishy. Take them out of the pan/wok and set them aside.
Add more oil and the rest of the onions. Add the carrots, frozen peas, and cabbage. Stir fry (literally just stir as you fry) until the carrots are slightly tender. This will take anywhere from 5 minutes to 10 minutes. Take them out of the wok and again, set aside.
Add more oil and, after 30 second or so, add the raw shrimp. Cook for several minutes (about 3) or until they are completely pink but not overdone. If they’re totally pink and really curling in a circle they’re probably a little overcooked. Once they start to show a little pink add the salt and continue stir frying until pink all the way around.
Add the veggies back in and stir everything together. Add the rice and eggs and stir and mix until completely combined. Add all the soy sauce and stir until well-mixed. Serve and enjoy!

Thoughts

Quick Poll and an Update

February 12, 2018February 12, 2018by Teri Mae1 Comment

Hey, everyone! Sorry about the whole two-week-in-a-row-without-a-post thing… I’ve been trying to get one together but life keeps getting in the way. To make up for it, get ready for double recipe week! I’ll be posting two awesome recipes (and trying to get a couple in the back burner for weeks I’m swamped) this week!

And second: let’s take a poll. I’ve noticed a lot of you feel like you aren’t skilled enough to attempt these recipes. I think it would be cool to teach you, and therefore give you the confidence you need, to be skilled enough at these recipes! So I’m considering starting a twitch stream, where once a week I’d make a recipe and the instructions and details would be posted here a few days later. Thoughts? Let’s take the poll to find out! And please leave a comment or two if you have some thoughts or suggestions!

Recipes

Fried Egg and Rice

January 26, 2018by Teri Mae3 Comments

It’s a breakfast kind of few weeks, I guess. I’ve been slightly ignoring those recipes simply because I like to eat what I make and I really enjoy baking for breakfast. Muffins, quick breads, waffles, pancakes, biscuits… Eggs aren’t exactly my thing. But after this recipe eggs may be back on the mark for being my thing. It was so delicious I even had it for lunch today. So spoiler alert, if you like eggs and rice and happiness, you’ll love this!

Fried Egg and Rice

This one is super easy, guys. I’m going to give you the instructions for a single egg serving since that’s the pretty picture, but in reality you’ll want 2 eggs. At least, I did. And while there’s not really a sauce in the photo, I added one because I think eggs need more than just salt and pepper.

Let’s start with the rice. It’s as simple as “make your rice.” Now, getting a little more complicated, I use a rice cooker exclusively. I usually make about 2 cups of uncooked rice (which fluffs up to about 6 cups) at a time and then just refrigerate the rest for anything. Tomorrow’s breakfast, fried rice, whatever. It’s easy to use up extra rice. But whether you make a lot or a little we are going to follow the instructions I mentioned in Meat and Rice Bowl recipe. We start with good, proper sticky rice, usually some kind of sushi rice. My favorite is Calrose from a childhood raised on it. Rinse your rice three times to get rid of the super starchy outer coat, and then add water up to the first knuckle on your finger. Turn on your rice cooker and let it go!

Now, we don’t want to start anything else until the rice is done, since the eggs cook so quickly. So once the rice is done and sitting warm let’s get going! You can add either butter or oil to the pan. If oil, just enough to coat the bottom, and if, like me, you choose butter for the flavor and the slight fluffiness it gives eggs, then you’ll want 1/2 tablespoon per egg. Turn your pan on to a medium low heat. We don’t want anything too hot or the outer edges of the egg will cook far quicker than the center and you’ll end up with overcooked egg. Place the butter in the pan and wait until it completely melts. Once it does very carefully break your egg (or eggs) into the pan. It’s very important that you are careful, because we want these eggs sunny-side-up, which mean the yolk needs to be intact. If the yolk breaks, you may want to throw the egg away and start over. It won’t be nearly as good without a runny yolk! One way to make sure the yolk stays together is to crack your egg against a flat surface, like the counter, and then use two hands to gently pull it apart and slide it into the pan. That’s how I do it! If you break a few, no worries, you’ll get the hang of it!

Once the egg is cracked and cooking we need to keep the heat at the perfect temperature. It needs to be hot enough that the edges of the egg are bubbling a bit but cool enough that only the edges are bubbling. Add the salt and pepper at this point, before the egg is set, and cook for 2-3 minutes. If it looks like the center isn’t cooking at all the the outer edges are cooking too quickly just place a lid on the pan for about 30 seconds-1 minute to steam the center a bit. Don’t leave the lid on too long or you’ll end up with over-easy eggs, not what we are looking for!

While the eggs are cooking measure out your soy sauce and add the ginger and garlic salt and stir until combined. Pour the soy sauce on the bottom of a plate. Add about 1-1.5 cups of cooked rice to the plate on top of the sauce. When the egg(s) are cooked gently slide them from the pan on to the rice. Sprinkle with fresh, chopped chives.

Enjoy it while it’s hot! And keep your pan ready… you may want seconds!

Link’s Fried Egg and Rice

- Bird Egg
- Hylian Rice

Fried Egg and Rice

Servings: 1
Time: 25 minutes, 20 minutes to cook rice, 5 minutes for eggs
Difficulty: easy
Print

Sunny-side-up eggs over a bed of rice and ginger garlic soy sauce

Ingredients

1 egg (you’ll probably want 2)
1/2 tablespoon butter (1 if you cook 2 eggs)
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 calrose rice
enough water to cover rice up to first knuckle on finger
1/8 plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon ground garlic
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon fresh chives (or 1/2 tablespoon dried chives)

Directions

Rinse your rice three times. Place your finger gently on top of the rice and add water until the water level reaches your first knuckle joint. Turn on your rice cooker and wait until complete.
Heat your pan on medium low and melt butter.
Carefully crack your egg into the pan, ensuring the yolk stays intact. If the yolk breaks, you may want to throw the egg away and start over.
Keep the heat on medium-low but adjust if necessary. It needs to be hot enough that the edges of the egg are bubbling a bit but cool enough that only the edges are bubbling.
Add the salt and pepper at this point, before the egg is set.
Cook for 2-3 minutes. If it looks like the center isn’t cooking at all the the outer edges are cooking too quickly just place a lid on the pan for about 30 seconds-1 minute to steam the center a bit.
While the eggs are cooking measure out your soy sauce and add the ginger and garlic salt and stir until combined.
Pour the soy sauce on the bottom of a plate. Add about 1-1.5 cups of cooked rice to the plate on top of the sauce.
When the egg(s) are cooked gently slide them from the pan on to the rice. Sprinkle with fresh, chopped chives.

Recipes

Veggies Cream Soup and New Year Resolutions

January 10, 2018January 10, 2018by Teri Mae21 Comments

I’m back! But this time I’m not just attempting to be back because I’ve made a goal/new year resolution to get back into this. I’ve never really been a resolutions kind of girl. I’ve always had the opinion that if you have a goal then start now, don’t wait for the new year and risk losing momentum before you’ve even started! But this year (mostly because of timing, partly because of my intense need to organize everything perfectly to fit in time grids) I’ve decided to start my very own set of resolutions.

One of my best friends from high school started making goals in sets of 4 and I think it’s incredibly clever to do it this way! It gives you enough to make changes in every aspect of your life, but not so much that you give up. They are goals in mental (i.e. knowledge), spiritual, physical, and social health. So what are my goals, you ask? They are:

Mental/Wisdom: Master all the Tartine and Tartine No. 3 bread recipes

Spiritual: Actually, I don’t really want to share this here, as it’s pretty personal and would take a very long time to explain. But suffice it to say that I have one!

Physical: The proverbial “Get Healthy”, but I actually have a plan for how to do this, so it’s not just a plea in the dark

And last but not least, Social, the reason I’m boring you with all of this: My goal is to improve my blog and my community here by being more regular in recipes, in the quality of my work, and being committed to the schedule I’m about to propose. They always say you’re more apt to accomplish goals if you tell people what they are so this is me requesting that you hold me accountable! The new sort-of-schedule is going to be:

A new recipe each week

One “Thankful” recipe per month

One Gaming Thoughts post per month

And, potentially, if I’m able to keep all those other posts regular, one collaboration per quarter.

Yeah, it doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s a schedule I think I can stick to and a schedule I feel comfortable making a commitment to. Also, there will be an element of surprise to it all, since I’m not specifying posting days this time! Let’s see if that works and if it does maybe I’ll go back to specific days… So hopefully you guys can help me stick this goal through and I hope this will produce a better blog for you to give your limited time to and a better chance for me to be a part of your community!

And now, after all that, your recipe.

Veggie Cream Soup

Lets start with stripping the herbs and cutting up all the veggies. When you’re using fresh herbs they need to be taken off the stems. This can seem incredibly daunting but i promise, it’s actually not that bad. If you’re using dried herbs, just skip this step and move on! Start by washing (obviously) and shaking dry the herbs as much as you can. Place the edge of your knife against the herb stem below the leaves, tight, but not cutting through. Once you’re in place simply pull the stem and drag the leaves along the blade of the knife. Don’t move the knife, just the stem. The leaves will strip off and the stem will pull through! Easy peasy! Any more questions, just watch this video:

Next, we cut the vegetables. Just slice and dice them into bite-size chunks, larger or smaller depending on your preferences. I prefer large chunks. I feel like you get a better flavor from them!

Once everything is prepped add a tiny bit of butter (or oil) to a pan with some height. We are going to be simmering in it later, so we want to make sure there’s enough room for the liquid. Start by frying the onion until it’s tender and opaque. Then add all the fresh veggies and saute for about a minute or two, just until they are all shiny. And guys, I know my photos have the zucchini added at this step. My advice, don’t follow the photos! While it was easy, it made the zucchini a little overcooked, which is not what we’re going for. We’ll add it later. Promise.

Once everything is nice and shiny add the vegetable broth and simmer for about 15 minutes. We want everything nice and tender before we add it to the sauce! If you’re using fresh peas and corn (because it’s summer or you’re very lucky) go ahead and add them to the simmering veggies. If not, I used frozen peas and canned corn. I like the taste of canned corn better in soup, but you can use frozen if you prefer. While your fresh veggies are simmering just heat up the peas and corn. Make sure all the water is drained and set them aside for later.

Next, we make a roux. We talked about the pitfalls of making a roux when we made Fish Pie, so I won’t go over them in detail again. Let’s just do the basics.

Melt your butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Wait until the butter is completely melted and bubbly. Once it is, whisk in half the flour. Once all the flour is incorporated and the mixture starts to melt and become a bit liquidy again add the remaining flour. Whisk is continually until it starts to melt again. Whisk constantly for 2 minutes until your roux reaches the blond stage.

Once your roux is ready we start slowly adding the milk. Add about half the milk at a time. The roux may ball up on itself when you do but just keep whisking and it’ll sort itself out! Whisk until the mixture is homogeneous and slightly thick. Add the remaining milk and repeat. If the mixture is too thick you may have added too much flour. Add regular milk until it reaches a gravy-like consistency.

Once your sauce is ready simply add all the veggies (including the zucchini, peas, and corn at this point!), herbs, and remaining broth to the sauce, stir until well combined, and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes to allow the flavors and spices to combine! If you skip this part the herbs won’t have done their job and it’ll be a bit bland. Be patient. It’ll be worth it!

P.S. I don’t recommend adding a raw carrot at the end… The price we pay for matching photos, right?

Link’s Veggie Cream Soup

- Fresh Milk
- Rock Salt
- Any Carrot or Pumpkin

Veggie Cream Soup

Servings: 8-10
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderately easy
Print

Vegetables in a thick, creamy soup

Ingredients

3-4 medium carrots
2 medium zucchini
1 head cauliflower
1 small onion
1 15 oz can of corn
2 cups frozen peas
1.5 tablespoons fresh thyme (or 3/4 tablespoon dried thyme)
1.5 tablespoons fresh oregano (or 3/4 tablespoon dried oregano)
1 tablespoon fresh chives (or 1/2 tablespoon dried chives)
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk
3 cups vegetable broth

Directions

If using fresh herbs, strip the oregano and thyme from their stalks and finely dice the chives. Set aside.
Slice the carrots and zucchini into large, bite-sized pieces. Remove the stalk and leaves of the cauliflower and chop into large bite-sized pieces. Dice the onion.
Add a small amount of oil or butter to a pan and heat on medium until the fat is hot. Add the onion and cook until translucent and tender. Add the cauliflower and carrots and saute until shiny. Add all the vegetable broth and simmer for 15 minutes.
While the vegetables are simmering thaw the peas and drain the corn and peas. Set aside.
Begin the roux by melting the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. When the butter is completely melted and bubbling whisk in half the flour. Whisk continually until all the flour is incorporated and the mixture starts to melt and become a bit liquidy again. Add the remaining flour and repeat. Once all the flour is incorporated whisk constantly for 2 minutes until your roux reaches the blond stage.
Slowly add half the milk and whisk until the mixture is thick. Add the remaining milk and whisk until the mixture has thickened to a gravy-like consistency.
Add all the simmering vegetables and broth, corn, peas, zucchini, herbs, salt, and pepper to the sauce and stir until well combined. Bring to a simmer and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes to allow the flavors and spices to combine.

Recipes

Nutcake

November 30, 2017November 30, 2017by Teri Mae18 Comments

You know those weeks when you’re sure you’ll have plenty of time to do X and Y and everything in between? And then reality happens and you wind up accomplishing absolutely nothing? Well, folks, that week was this one for me. I felt like, for the first time in a long time, I would have plenty of hours to get done my forever-long list of tasks. And I didn’t finish any of them. I wish there was a super-cool, trendy and fancy reason that would put me in the good graces of anyone and everyone and make me the super-star of the gathering. But no… it was simply the fact that it’s been nearly two years since I’ve re-read Lord of the Rings and I can’t put it down! I really love that book. And I really love eating desserts while I read at night. So this week I made a really easy, but awesome recipe. Something I could throw in the oven and eat piping hot while engrossed in the Mines of Moria. And after last week’s intense recipe I figured you could all use as much of a break as I did! So let’s take it with this simple take on nutcake.

Nutcake

So I wanted to make this easy. So easy you could do it in one bowl (though I used two). So instead of making this an actual cake recipe it became a quick-bread. What’s the difference between a cake and a quick-bread you ask? Well, according to my friend, with whom I’ve had this debate several times, nothing. So instead of arguing the point we’re just going to close our eyes and go with it!

First we add all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl. Whisk them well to blend them together. Just use a hand whisk. This recipe isn’t fancy, remember?

Add the eggs to a separate bowl and whisk with a fork until they are slightly beaten. Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add all the liquids at once. Stir until just combined. We don’t want things to get over-mixed or it’ll be a bit dry and tough. So stir, I used a spoon, until the dry ingredients are all moist and homogenous.

Chop the walnuts into quarterish pieces and add most of them to the batter. Stir until they are evenly distributed. This recipe is super complex, I know…

Grease a 9×5 loaf pan well with butter. If you use anything else I cannot vouch for your loaf coming out of the pan in once piece. I’ve tried other methods and for me, nothing works as well as butter.

Add all the mixture to the pan. Now let’s make the pseudo-candied walnuts. Chop the remaining walnuts and mix them with the maple syrup. Stir them together until the walnuts are completely coated. Gently spread them over the top of the batter.

Bake until a cake tester comes out clean. See? After a rough recipe last week this one is a walk in the park! It’s so easy I added an extra step – let’s make honey butter to spread over this wonderful bread/cake.

Add the softened butter and honey together in a bowl. Whip or beat until well combined. Done. Now spread it over the nutcake/bread and enjoy!

Link’s Glazed Veggies

- Tabantha Wheat
- Cane Sugar
- Goat Butter
- Any Nut

Nutcake with Walnuts and Spices

Servings: 1 loaf
Time: Prep: 15 minutes, Bake: 55-75 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Print

Nutcake quick bread with Walnuts and spices

Nutcake

2.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2.5 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1.25 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
2/3 cup butter, melted
1.75 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Honey

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
5-6 tablespoons honey

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Add all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl. Whisk well to blend together.
Add the eggs to a separate bowl and whisk with a fork until they are slightly beaten.
Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix until combined.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add all the liquids at once. Stir until just combined and there are no more dry parts.
Chop the walnuts into quarters.
Add 1 1/4 cups to the batter and stir until they are evenly distributed.
Grease a 9×5 loaf pan well with butter and add all the mixture to the pan.
Combine the remaining 1/2 cup quartered walnuts and the maple syrup together and stir until the walnuts are completely coated. Gently spread them over the top of the batter.
Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 55-75 minutes.
To make the honey butter, add the honey and softened butter in a bowl and whip until thick and completely combined.