Cook-n-bake-aholic

Since my last post I have been on a ROLL.  Made gazpacho (which hubby said was a little too on the oniony side), tuna strata and just now chocolate chip cranberry scones.  I'll include all three recipes but want to focus more on the last two.  This is going to be short though, since I'm spent.

Tuna Strata and I go way back. When I was about 10 I stayed with a good friend's family apartment at a ski resort in Chile.  I can't remember if it was lunch or dinner but Tuna Strata was served.  I was beside myself and thought it was the most delicious meal that had passed my lips.  I begged and pleaded for the recipe.  Knowing me, I probably got it and then lost it.  Point is, I don't think I had Tuna Strata again until today.  It was a hit with the hubs!

You have to make it and then refrigerate it overnight, so I put it in the oven for dinner today before going to the gym.  The recipe did say it would puff up like a soufflè.  What it didn't mention was that it might overflow.  Whoops, smoky kitchen!

Good thing it was still delicious.

After dinner I was a little restless and decided to go back to a recipe that made me a little nervous.  For those of you who don't know me, I love to bake.  I have met many people in my life who have inspired me to become a better baker.  My mother and grandmother are at the tippy top of that list.  Yet, certain friends of mine have incredible baking talents.  One of them is my friend Andrea from Wisconsin.  She makes the best scones I have ever tasted in my life.  So when I moved back from Chile I tried making scones.  They were a total fail.  They were hard, tasteless, pretty sad.  

I have not tried making scones since, and for some reason in my restlessness, the thought came to me and I decided to go for it.  Chocolate Chip Cranberry.  I just tasted them and they turned out great!!! So here's to you, Andrea (If only you could pass on your writing skills, now...)

So here they are, the three recipes in all their glory.  The Gazpacho is from foodnetwork.com.  Tuna Strata was sent to me by my mother, and the Chocolate Chip Cranberry scones from joyofbaking.com  ENJOY!

Gazpacho

1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
4 plum tomatoes
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
 

Directions:
Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!

After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

Basic Strata Recipe

This recipe must be started the day before you are going to serve it.

16 slices white bread, (if you use thick slices of bread, you will only need two layers of bread, and in essence it’s like making a sandwich, then covering it with sauce.  If you use the El Castaño, which is very thin, you’ll make more layers).

500 g. sliced or grated cheese, (can use cheddar, gauda, etc)

6 eggs

1 tsp. Dry mustard

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp. Salt

pepper to taste

3 cups milk

½ cup melted butter

1 cup crumbled potato chips

Cut crusts off the bread.  (Here you can buy it crustless, the recipe uses 1 box of El Castaño pan de miga). 

Place a layer of bread in bottom of slightly greased pyrex or rectangular casserole dish.  Cover with part of the cheese, then place another layer of bread, more cheese, more bread, finishing with bread.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, mustard, w. sauce, milk,  melted butter, salt and pepper, and pour over the bread.  Cover with foil, refrigerate and let sit overnight.

Take out of refrigerator early in the day.  Before baking, cover top with crumbled potato chips, and put in oven 1 hour, at 350° F.  It will puff up like a soufflé.

VARIATIONS

Add sliced ham to the layers, or tuna fish, or small shrimps, etc.  You can also add ¼ cup chopped onion and ¼ cup chopped green or red pepper to the sauce.

Chocolate Chip Cranberry Scones

2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

1/2 cup (90 grams) milk or semi sweet chocolate chips or chunks

1/2 cup (75 grams) dried cherries or cranberries

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 - 3/4 cup (160 - 180 ml) buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in middle of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. (The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.)  Stir in the chocolate chunks (or chips) and dried cherries. In a small measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla extract and then add to the flour mixture. Stir just until the dough comes together (add more buttermilk or flour as necessary). Do not over mix the dough.
 

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (3.75 cm) thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 4 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with a little milk.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Makes 8 scones.