This week's food lab

ok, here's the recipe's for this week. (Almost) all turned out delish... Try them for yourself. P.S. If you're ever wondering what food I made in lab, I'm kitchen 2. It's usually labeled. So, for example, today I made pineapple-ham fried rice and easy mango salsa, and all of the kitchens made their own smoothies. Working at Jujji juice pays off some times.

Here's what I thought of all the recipes: Smoothies were ok, I've had and made better. The doughnuts tasted very homemade, not bad though. I didn't have the steamed carrots with snow peas, not sure why, must have skipped over them. Our pineapple-ham fried rice was delicious and the mango salsa was surprisingly really good. (I say surprisingly because I don't usually like hot/spicy foods, but this wasn't so bad). The chicken crepes were (yeah, I'll say it) preeeetty gross. I really didn't care for them at all. The Tuna melt sandwhiches were pretty good. They were my lab partner's favorite. The baked apples would have been better a little more tender. They were slightly too hard for me. Fudge was EXCELLENT!

Student Recipes - Small Equipment Lab

The purpose of this lab is to give students exposure to various pieces of small equipment in the lab. Students will also employ safe and clean preparation techniques, as discussed in lecture.

Lecture Demo Peanut Butter Play Doh

All Blender - Strawberry Smoothies

Kitchen 1 Fryer – Doughnuts and Steamed Carrots with Snow Peas

Kitchen 2 Rice Cooker – Rice and Electric Skillet - Pineapple-Ham Fried Rice and Food Processor – Easy Mango Salsa with Tortilla Chips

Kitchens 3 Crepe Maker - Chicken Crepes

Kitchen 4 Sandwich Maker– Tuna Melt Sandwiches and Pressure Cooker – Baked Apples

Kitchen 5 Electric Skillet – Tuna Melt Sandwiches and Pressure Cooker – Baked Apples

Kitchen 6 Crepe Maker - Chicken Crepes

Kitchen 7 Fryer – Doughnuts and Zip-Loc Bag – Fudge (everything is a tool)

Peanut Butter Play Doh

1 C. creamy peanut butter (pack & level)

1 C. light corn syrup (or mild honey) (liquid = eye level)

1 ¼ C. powdered sugar (spoon lightly & level)

1 ¼ C. instant dry milk (scoop & level)

1. Combine peanut butter and corn syrup in a mixing bowl.

2. Add dry ingredients, and mix well. Use your hands if necessary.

3. Divide the mixture into 4 sections.

4. Roll each section into a 1” rope. Wrap in plastic wrap.

5. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Cut in slices and enjoy.

Blender - Strawberry Smoothies

1 C. milk 1 C. low fat vanilla yogurt

1 C. frozen strawberries (10 large) 1/4 C. sugar

2+ C. ice cubes

1. Put milk and yogurt in a blender. Mix.

2. With the blender going, drop in frozen fruit 2 or 3 at a time.

3. When fruit is blended, add ice cubes until it reaches the desired consistency.

4. Add sugar. Serve immediately.

Sandwich Maker or Electric Skillet - Tuna Melt Sandwiches

1 (6 oz.) can tuna, drained 2 oz. cheddar cheese, in 1/4" cubes

1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/4 C. sweet pickle relish

1 hard cooked egg, diced 12 slices bread

1. To prepare egg: Place room temperature egg (if egg is from refrigerator, you can run warm water over egg to warm it) in a pan with enough cold water to cover egg completely (approximately by 1 1/2 inches). Bring the water to a boil, remove from heat, cover tightly with a lid, and allow to remain in the water approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Combine filling ingredients. Mix well.

3. Spread equally on 6 slices of bread. Top with remaining bread.

4. Spread a small amount of butter on the outside of the bread. Cook in a sandwich maker or an electric skillet, turning, until both sides are golden brown and cheese is melted.

Fryer – Cake Doughnuts

It is especially important to heat the oil to the correct temperature when frying doughnuts. Use a reliable thermometer as well as a temperature-controlled frying devise. If the oil is too cool, the doughnuts will absorb too much oil, becoming heavy and fatty instead of light and crisp. If the oil is too hot, the outside of the doughnuts will burn while the centers will stay sticky and under-done. Doughnuts are best eaten on the day they are made.

½ cup granulated sugar

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons melted butter

2 eggs

3 3/4 cups (plus perhaps another ¼ - ½ cup) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

oil for frying

1. Heat oil to 350° F

2. Mix sugar, milk, melted butter and eggs. Add flour, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg to form dough. If dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.

3. Roll out 3/4-inch thick on floured surface.

4. Cut and drop into fryer until golden brown. Turn and brown other side.

5. Cool on rack or on paper towels. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar or dip in frosting and sprinkles. When you are dipping the doughnuts in frosting, use your jelly roll pan with a cooling rack over it to allow the frosting to drain. Put the decorative sprinkles on top after frosting the doughnuts. Use the sprinkles that fall into the jelly roll pan to decorate the remaining doughnuts.

Frosting ( you will be making both vanilla and chocolate frosting)

2 1/2 cups (12 oz.) confectioners’ sugar (spoon in and level off to measure)

few drops of vanilla

1 Tbsp. cocoa powder

6-8 teaspoons water

decorative sprinkles

1. To make the vanilla frosting: Pour half the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl, add the vanilla and enough cold water (3-4 teaspoons) to mix into a smooth frosting.

2. To make the chocolate frosting: Stir the other half of the confectioners’ sugar with the cocoa powder into another bowl and mix in cold water (3-4 teaspoons) to make a smooth frosting.

3. Put sprinkles in a bowl. Dip warm doughnuts in frosting and then dip in sprinkles.

4. Prepare doughnut holes same as doughnuts.

Easy Mango Salsa

½ onion
1 jalapeno
½ clove garlic

1 ripe mango, peeled and pitted
1 tbsp. lime juice
1/8 bunch cilantro, washed
1 can (14.5 oz) whole tomatoes

1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Cut jalapeno in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Using food chopper, chop onion and jalapeno and set aside. Mince garlic with knife or garlic press. Chop mango with knife. Snip cilantro into smaller pieces with clean kitchen scissors. Assemble food processor with metal blade. Put lime juice, cilantro and tomatoes into food processor. Pulse until tomatoes are consistency you want. Add onion, jalapenos, mango and garlic and pulse just enough to mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Store in refrigerator for 1 hour for flavors to blend. Serve with tortilla chips.

Basic Crepes (makes about 16 crepes)

1 C. flour

2 eggs

½ C. milk

½ C. water

¼ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine

*Measure the flour and liquid carefully, because the consistency is important.

The batter should be about the consistency of thick heavy cream.

1. Place ingredients in your blender in the order given. Blend 30 seconds. Stop and stir down the sides. Blend 30 to 60 seconds more, until smooth. Or Using a whisk or mixer, combine flour and eggs in a bowl. Add liquid gradually. Beat until smooth. Add other ingredients and mix.

2. Cook, using a crepe maker, or oiled crepe (omelet) pan.

Filling:

1 C. sour cream 2 whole thinly sliced green onion

1 can cream of chicken soup 1/4 C. finely chopped celery

1/4 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced 2 C. diced, cooked chicken (1 lb. raw)

1/4 C. sliced black olives (sm. can)

3. To prepare chicken: trim fat from chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Heat oil in frying pan on medium-high heat. Saute chicken pieces in oil (1 Tbsp.) until no longer pink.

4. Sanitize your counter top so that you can line up the cooked crepes to fill them equally. Combine ingredients, then fill crepes. Put filled crepes in greased glass 9x13 pan. Cover with plastic wrap, vent corner and place in microwave and cook on high for 10 minutes. (This jump starts the heating process. At home you may cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.)

5. Remove plastic and bake in conventional oven (325 degrees) for 10-15 minutes until heated through.

Topping:

1 cup grated cheese

6. Remove from oven and sprinkle on 1 C. grated cheese.

7. Bake 5 more minutes, until cheese is melted.

Note: You may make shells and filling the night before, but don’t stuff them until the morning of the day

you are going to use them. You may bake ahead, cover with aluminum foil, and reheat, if necessary.

Pressure Cooker - Baked Apples (for lab, plan 1/2 apple per person.)

½ apple for each person (4 large or 5 small will fit in a standard pressure cooker)

1/2 C. sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1. Use an apple corer or sharp utility knife, to remove the core from the apple.

2. Remove one strip of peel from the top of the apple. (This helps the steam penetrate better).

3. Place the apples in the bottom of a dry pressure cooker (remove the rack).

4. Combine the sugar and the cinnamon.

5. Fill the cavity of each apple with the sugar/cinnamon mixture.

6. Pour 1/4" of water in the bottom of the pressure cooker.

7. Seal lid and place pressure cooker over medium high heat.

8. Place the pressure gauge on the lid. When pan reaches full pressure and gauge begins to rock, turn the heat off, and remove from heat. Allow the pan to sit for 5 minutes to cool, then place the pan in your sink and run cold water over the side until the handle safety lock disengages.

NOTE: If gauge fails to rock after 20 minutes total time on heat, remove from heat. Let the pan sit until all pressure has escaped (about 20 minutes). If necessary, run cool water on the edge of the lid to release remaining steam. The safety lock near the handle will release.

9. Remove the lid. Cut the apples into fourths, remove the skins, and place apples on a serving dish. Serve with of ice cream.

10. Place the cinnamon sauce that is in the bottom of the pan in a dish to serve over the ice cream.

Zip-Lock Bag - Fudge (1 ½ C.)

(Amounts in parentheses make a single serving in a sandwich bag.)

2 oz. cream cheese - (1 T.) 1/4 C. margarine - (1T.)

3 C. powdered sugar - (3/4 C.) 1/4 C. cocoa - (1T.)

1. Measure ingredients in a 1 gal. zip lock bag. Push the air out of the bag and seal well.

2. Squish the mixture to mix well. It will be dry at first, but will soon become fudge.

3. Roll fudge between two sheets of waxed paper and cut into squares for easy serving (or eat with a spoon, yum).

4. You may press in chopped nuts or coconut.

Steamer - Rice

1 1/4 C. long grain rice 1 1/2 C. cold water 1/8 tsp. salt

1. Fill the water reservoir with cold tap water to the HIGH fill line.

2. Place the steaming bowl onto the base.

3. Place the rice, water, and seasoning directly into the rice bowl.

4. Place the rice bowl with contents into the steaming bowl and cover it so that the cover handles line up over the bowl handles and the tabs fit properly into the openings.

5. Plug it in and set the timer for approximately 52-54 minutes.

6. Fluff with a fork before serving or using in a recipe.

Electric Skillet - Pineapple-Ham Fried Rice

4 eggs, beaten 2 (or more) whole green onions, thinly sliced

1 tsp. garlic powder 2 tsp. oil

1/2 tsp. salt 4 C. cooked rice

2 Tbsp. butter 4 tsp. soy sauce

2 slices ham, chopped 1 can (20 oz.) pineapple tidbits, drained

1. Beat the eggs and add garlic powder.

2. Heat a skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot, melt the butter.

3. Add the eggs, and allow them to cook until the bottom is set. (See step #4 below. You are not scrambling the eggs). Continue cooking the eggs until they are done, but not dry.

4. Cool the eggs, then remove them to a plate, and cut them into small pieces.

5. Chop the ham into small pieces.

6. Clean, then thinly slice the onions and half the green stem.

7. Put the oil in the skillet and place it over medium heat.

8. Add the green onions, rice, ham, pineapple, egg, and soy sauce. Stir fry until everything is heated through, being careful to not over-stir.

9. Serve with additional soy sauce.

Steamed Carrots with Snow Peas

1 lb. (.45 kg) carrots

½ lb (.23 kg) snow peas

1-2 cloves garlic

1 tsp. dry dill weed

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel the carrots and slice into ¼”-thick rounds.
2. Break off the ends of the peas; remove any strings; wash.
3. Place the garlic and dried dill weed in the flavor center of the steamer.
4. Spread the carrots in the steaming bowl. Cover.
5. Steam carrots for 12 minutes before adding the snow peas. Add snow peas.
6. Allow the vegetables to finish cooking for 9-10 additional minutes; stir.
7. Yields about 4 ½ cups of vegetables.
   

So yeah. There you have it for today. I'll give you last week's recipes next time... sooner or later.