Cheese Parathas

I needed a last-minute lunch before I had to hit the road to leave for our Thanksgiving road trip, so I settled on 2 cheese parathas. Quick, easy, tasty.

Parathas are very easy to put together and cook; you'll be done before you know it. It took me longer to get my camera set up and take these pictures than it did to make and cook the parathas from start to finish.

Parathas are an unleavened whole wheat Indian flatbread, often stuffed with some sort of spiced deliciousness. My favorites are the potato-stuffed parathas (Aloo Paratha) and cheese-filled parathas (Paneer Paratha), but you can find them stuffed with cooked, mashed cauliflower, and probably a variety of other ingredients.

When I came across this video from Manjula's Kitchen, I knew I wanted to try making the parathas her way. She made it look effortless and tasty. No doubt she has years of working that tiny rolling pin under her belt, and although I did a pretty good job of filling and rolling my parathas, they were not as thin and lovely as hers are.

Like so many other things, it just takes practice.






I wanted cheese parathas, but I didn't have paneer or plain yogurt, or even cilantro. I had to fudge the filling a bit to use what I had on hand, but I think that it worked out fine.  I also reduced the recipe quite a bit to make just 2 medium-sized parathas instead of 6 larger ones.

Cheese Parathas

Makes 2 medium parathas

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 3/4 teaspoon oil
• approximately 3 tablespoons lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons green onion, minced
• 1 heaping tablespoon sour cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped cheese curds
• salt
• pinch of granulated garlic

Directions:

1. Sift together the salt, whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour in a bowl.
2. Add the oil and mix briefly to moisten the flour, then pour in the water.
3. Stir the mixture together with a fork until it forms a ball, then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until it is smooth.
4. Let rest for 10 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the minced green onion, cheese curds, sour cream salt and granulated garlic until well combined.
6. Divide the dough into two pieces and roll them out into a circle about 1/4 inch thick. Place half the filling in the center of the dough and then bring all the edges together and pinch them closed so that you have a ball of dough encasing the filling. Repeat with the second piece of dough and let them rest for 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Carefully roll out the stuffed ball of dough to a circle about 4 inches in diameter - the first few times you do this, the filling may squeeze out a few holes. Don't worry too much about this, it will gtet better with practice.
8. Lightly oil a griddle or a large skillet - I use my cast iron skillet or griddle and raise the heat to high. Place the rounds of bread on the hot griddle and cook until the edges begin to brown slightly, then flip them over. If the rounds puff up a bit as you're cooking, that is a very good thing.
9. After about 3 minutes, flip them over again to check the color, they should be speckled golden brown. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes and then place them on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb any excess oil if needed.
10. Serve hot.

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Egg Baked in a Potato Shell with Salsa, Cheese and Chives

I've never been a fan of cold cereal for breakfast; I'm an eggs-for-breakfast kind of girl. Add potatoes to that and I'm in heaven. Eggs and hash, potato-filled omelette, peasant breakfast, scrambled eggs with a thin German potato pancake, I can't think of an egg-and-potato preparation that I wouldn't love.

I love the presentation of oeufs en cocotte, and I've done my own take on that by baking beaten eggs and cream in leftover mashed potato. Yesterday I was pondering the pile of roasted potatoes I had leftover from making my roasted beet, potato and goat cheese pizza (recipe forthcoming), and I decided to try baking an egg in a hollowed-out potato shell.

Tasty, plus it had that satisfying comfort food feel to it.

Egg Baked in a Potato Shell with Salsa, Cheese and Chives

Ingredients:

• 1  medium potato, baked and cooled
• 1 egg
• 1 T salsa
• 2 T shredded cheddar
• chives
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Slice off the top of the potato - about 1/4 of the way down.
3. Place the potato in a ramekin.
4. Scoop out the insides of the potato, leaving a shell with about 1/8 in. layer of potato - I like to use a grapefruit spoon.
5. Season the insides with salt and pepper
6. Put 1 T of salsa on the bottom, followed by 1 T cheese.
7. Carefully crack the egg into the potato and top with the remaining 1 T of cheddar.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes, then top with chives and a few more shreds of cheddar if you like and serve immediately.

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Cheddar-Dill Biscuits

Biscuits were one of the first things I made myself when I was about 11, and by "made," I mean assembled from a box of Bisquick, just add milk and butter and presto, you've got biscuits. The results, lumpy-looking golden little bites of deliciousness with that distinctive bite of baking powder, were a bit homely, but totally satisfying.

Still, it was that accomplishment of having mixed together fairly authentic ingredients in a bowl, gotten messy up to my elbows mushing it all together, shaping them and then sticking them in the oven that had me hooked on the magical alchemy of cooking and baking.

I will never pass up a biscuit, ever. I love the flaky biscuits that fall apart into layers; I love the doughier baking powder biscuits; buttermilk, powdermilk, cheese biscuits, biscuits drenched in butter, I love them all. I have been searching for the ultimate from-scratch biscuit recipes for every type of biscuit.

This recipe has that nice baking powder bite to it, and the cheese and dill pair together so well. Cut these open while still hot, add a slice of sharp cheddar cheese and a few slices of a really sour dill pickle, and you have a terrific little sandwich bite.

Cheddar-Dill Biscuits

Makes about 9 biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 T buttermilk powder - I like the Saco brand 
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 T sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
• 2 T fresh dill
• 1/3 cup milk
• melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or a silicone baking mat, otherwise be sure to use an insulated cookie sheet.* See Notes
3. Mix together the flour, salt, buttermilk powder, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl.
4. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Add the chopped dill and shredded cheese and mix well.
6. Pour in the milk and mix with a fork until well incorporated and the dough starts to form a cohesive ball. It will still be sticky.
7. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by folding over until it feels smooth, then pat it down into a rectangle about 3/4 in. high
8. Cut with a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter or a drinking glass.
9. Place round on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for about 10 - 12 minutes.
10. Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven and eat.

Notes:
I made these this weekend without the cheddar and dill and used a regular cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. When I pulled them out, the bottoms were fairly dark - ok, ok, they were burned on the bottoms, although the tops were that perfect golden brown and they were absolutely the ideal texture inside. I actually quoted Yosemite Sam "Mah biscuits are burnin'! Mah biscuits are burnin'!" and then I laughed. Then I scraped the bottoms as best I could. The biscuits were a base for chicken fricassee anyway, so they were definitely salvageable.

At any rate, that's why I recommend the Silpat baking mat or some other silicone mat.

Can I confess something? I have always had the same problem with cookies. Until I bought a Silpat mat, the bottoms of my cookies always, ALWAYS burned, sometimes even when I used insulated cookie sheets. It was maddening. I think that it's probably because I use butter instead of shortening, and butter's melting (and therefore burning) point is way lower than shortening's so you have to be careful not to scorch things laden with butter.

Since I've started using baking mats, both the Silpat one and a straight silicone one my mom bought for me, I never burn cookies or biscuits or pirozhki. This is totally not a paid endorsement (hah, I wish!), I'm just saying that I have had excellent luck with a thick, silicone-based baking mat. If you do a lot of baking, it is totally worth the investment, I think. Tweet

Omelette

One of my favorite quick, I-have-no-idea-what-to-cook-for-dinner meals is a simple omelette. It's quick, it's versatile, and you can tart it up any way you like. I'm sure the French would scoff at my omelettes and my omelette-technique - though they'd probably approve of my spelling - but eggs are one area where I don't really care about what others think is "the only correct way" to do them.

For example, I will not, ever, eat eggs that are sunny-side-up, and rarely will I eat them over-easy. I like my fried eggs over hard, yolk cracked and cooked all the way through. Bonus points for a little browning on the egg and the crispy edges on the egg whites. Likewise, the scrambled eggs I saw Jacques and Julia doing on one of their shows once were way too moist and loose for my taste. I like them scrambled a bit more on the dry side, still fluffy, but drier.

They'd probably shudder at the fact that I usually use an EggBeaters-type of liquid egg product, though if I have an omelette on the weekends, I usually make a 3-egg omelette and go crazy. The whole eggs and touch of heavy cream make it fluffy and monstrous and delicious.

Omelettes are great because they are such a versatile vehicle for so many different ingredients: smoked salmon, caviar and dill; taco-seasoned ground beef, cheese and vegetables; pesto, tomatoes and mozzarella; hey I've even put leftover potatoes in an omelette. Vegetables? Yes. A smidge of seafood in a cream sauce? Why not? Go CRAZY.

Of course, they are just as delicious on their own with just a bit of cheese and topped with some salsa.

Omelette with Cheese and Salsa

Ingredients:

• butter
• 1/3 cup EggBeaters
• cheese
• salsa

Directions:

1. Over medium-high heat, melt butter in 9 in. skillet.
2. Pour in your liquid eggs (or 3 eggs beaten with a bit of milk), tilt the pan so it's spread out evenly.
3. Sprinkle some cheese on the top and cover with a lid to let cook for 2 minutes or so until the edges are set. Then fold in half and sprinkle a little more cheese on top.
4. Cover again and let cook for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and let it finish cooking for another minute or so.
5. Plate and top with salsa.

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Seafood Lasagna

We tasted this some weeks ago at a family gathering. My kids, in fact, all of the kids there, absolutely devoured this dish. Every one of them went back for no less than thirds of this dish. If they had been allowed to sit on the kitchen floor in a ravenous huddle around the baking dish and scrape it clean with their graspy fingers, they would have. It amused the adults greatly.

Needless to say, I told my SIL that I would need that recipe. I am thankful that my kids are growing out of their pickiness. They have been gamely trying out new things I foist on them, but when I see that there is something that they seem to inhale off their plate and then request seconds of, well, I have to add it to my repertoire.

I won't lie to you: This is rich, with 4 cups of a cheese sauce, ricotta and seafood, but my goodness, is it tasty.

Seafood Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick or 1/4-pound)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth (I used Better Than Bouillon No-Chicken Base)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 t Old Bay
• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles
• 1 cup ricotta
• 1/2 pound shrimp - I used frozen, cooked shrimp
  
• 1/2 pound scallops - I used frozen scallops
• 1/2 cup grated parm
  

Directions:

1. Thaw the seafood according to the package.
   


2. Preheat the oven to 350.
   


3. Saute the chopped onion in butter. Set aside once they are soft and translucent.
   


4. Over low heat, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Once the butter is foamy, add the garlic and cook for a few minutes.
   


5. Whisk in the flour and cook until the paste is golden and bubbly.
   


6. Add the milk and broth, stirring constantly.
   


7. Bring to a boil and then let boil for 1 minute, keep stirring.
   


8. Lower heat and add the mozzarella, Old Bay and sauteed onions.
   


9. Cook until the cheese has all melted.
   


10. In a small bowl, mix together the ricotta and the grated parm.
    


11. In another small bowl, mix together the shrimp and scallops.
    


12. In an ungreased 9 x 13 baking dish, spread 1 cup of the cheese sauce on the bottom. Cover with 4 of the uncooked noodles, then spread more of the sauce on the noodles. Spread it out so that all of the noodles are lightly covered with the sauce.
    


13. Spread half of the ricotta-parm mixture over the noodles, and then top with half of the seafood. Then ladle out more of the cheese sauce and top with 4 more noodles.
    


14. Repeat one more time until all of the ricotta and seafood are layered in, top with sauce and then 4 more noodles and pour the remaining cheese sauce over the top. Let the excess sauce run down into the layers below.
    


15. Top with extra grated parm and sprinkle a bit more Old Bay on top, then bake, uncovered for 40 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes, then cut into pieces. If it seems soupy, put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes, then serve, with fresh shredded parm on top.
    

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