Monkey Bread

On a crisp fall Sunday morning, there's nothing better than Monkey Bread.

Why is a giant loaf of melted cinnamonny goodness called Monkey Bread? I have absolutely no idea.  The only thing I can think of is we all look like a pack of hungry monkeys picking at a giant melon as we devour the entire loaf in about 10 minutes.

You can get the dough balls from a couple different sources.  The easy route is to buy a few cans of the pre-made biscuit dough.  Just chop them into thirds or quarters and you're ready to go.  If you like the bread to have more of the roll consistency, then use thawed and raised frozen roll dough.  If you're really ambitious, you can make a double batch of my Buttermilk Biscuit Dough ,even go the Cinnamon Raisin dough route to blend the spices all the way through the dough if you want.  The taste is incredible, but this is the option for the people who have tons of energy or time in the morning.  For the inherently lazy, like me, the prepackaged biscuits are a great way to go.

This is a very kid friendly recipe as well.  Since you're going to be coating close to 100 little balls of dough, having a few small hands shaking the coating bags while you create the brown sugar sauce.  And letting them assemble the bread in the bundt pan for a cool shape (or just a 13x9 pan) is a great way for them to be involved.

Monkey Bread

3 cans of pre-made biscuit dough or about 40 thawed roll balls or 2 batches of our Buttermilk Biscuit recipe
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks of butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins (optional)

Grease the insides of a bundt cake pan.

Cut the dough into 1/2 to 1 inch balls.  Combine the white sugar and cinnamon into a gallon ziploc bag and shake to combine.  Open the bag add about 8-10 of the little bread balls and shake to coat them.

Place the coated dough balls into the bottom of the bundt pan and sprinkle just a few of raisins on top of the balls.  Repeat this step until all of the balls are coated and placed.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

In  a small saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar.  Cook over medium high to bring it to a boil.  Boil for about 1 minute, then pour the mixture evenly over the dough.

Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes, then pour the bread out onto a large plate or platter.

Grab a few pieces before the pack of monkeys descends upon it and decimates it.

Shrimp Scampi over Orzo Pasta

I was craving some shrimp the other day and wanted to do something a little different.  Fried Shrimp are delicious, but I've had a lot of those in the past little while.  And the weather wasn't perfect, so barbecuing a few skewers was out.

So I experimented with some shrimp scampi.  Scampi style requires you to saute your shrimp in a rather hot garlic butter and wine sauce.  The actual cooking time for the shrimp is very short, the preparation takes a little time, mainly because you need to remove the tails.  Why?

Well we're also making some pasta as a serving bed for the shrimp when we're done.  We're going to boil the tails in the water to add just a little bit of shrimp flavor into the small orzo pasta, as well as a little lemon and pepper.

If you haven't had orzo pasta, it's something rather unique.  They look like over-sized rice grains when they are cooked and cook rather fast compared to other pastas.  In this recipe, we'll cook up a batch as we're sauteing the shrimp.  As for the shrimp tails, we're going to toss them in the water as it comes to a boil so we can get a little extra shrimp flavor infused into the pasta.

Shrimp Scampi Over Orzo Pasta

Feeds 4

Shrimp Preparation
1 1/4 pound shrimp, shelled, deveined - tails off, but not thrown away
Salt and pepper
5 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice, squeezed from a lemon, not from a bottle...
2 teaspoons finely chopped or dried parsley

Orzo Preparation
4 quarts of water
Shrimp tails
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces Orzo pasta


Prepare your shrimp.  Take off the tails but do not throw them away.  We need them for the pasta. 

Speaking of the pasta... Place the 4 quarts of water in a large stockpot along with the shrimp tails, black pepper and lemon.  Crank the heat up to high and bring the water to a boil.  Allow the tails to boil in the pot for about 5 minutes.  Then remove the tails and add the pasta.  This will cook within 8-12 minutes so check for doneness while you're working on the shrimp.

Place a large skillet over low heat and add the butter and garlic.  Allow the butter to sweat the garlic for about 3-4 minutes to extract some flavor.  Shake in a little salt and pepper.  Add the wine and lemon juice and elevate the heat to medium and cook for another 4 minutes.

The pasta should be done.  Strain into a collander (with small holes so the orzo doesn't escape) and set it aside while you finish the shrimp.

Add the shrimp to the skillet, making sure all of them are touching the bottom of the skillet, no layering.  Cook for 2 minutes, then flip.  Sprinkle the parsley over the dish and cook for another 2 minutes on the other side.  While you're waiting for them to finish, grab some plates and dish out the orzo, so the shrimp have a landing pad when they're done.

After the last two minutes are done, take the skillet off the heat and immediately portion out the shrimp onto the little orzo beds you've created.  Pour the leftover butter sauce over each portion equally

Add the vegetable of your choice as a side dish and you'll have a great well rounded meal.

Funnel Cakes without the Fair Experience

It's fair time again...  The Utah State Fair just started last Friday.  For years I was a fair goer, especially when I was younger. We'd ride some of the rides, play a load of midway games and check out all of the little booths.

Of course, we'd end up at the food end of the midway and gorge ourselves on fat filled delicacies.  There was something magical about a fair corn dog late in the evening with a fresh lemonade as a sidecar.  As dessert, we'd share a couple funnel cakes, one with chocolate sauce and another drenched in a strawberry maceration, and both dusted with powdered sugar.

But I have to say that the mystique of the fair has worn off in the past few years.  Maybe it's because I'm older and wiser, but the rides seem a little more rickety than ever.  The lack of fingers on the operator's right hand just doesn't instill that much confidence.  I've seen way too many YouTube videos showing how the Carny games are impossible to win.  Many of the vendor booths have devolved into satellite system sales people, extremely similar henna tattoo stands, and purveyors of the leftover inventory of low-grade kitchen gadget manufacturers that couldn't reach the high standards of late night infomercials.

Above all else, the saddest part was the quality of the food.  Last time we went, it was $8 for a very sub-standard foot-long corn dog.  The fresh cut spiral fries tasted like they'd been wallowing in grease under heat lamps for hours.  And the funnel cakes?  Well, they were so oil-soaked and stale that I couldn't eat it all.

So I've resolved to create the experience I remembered as a kid here at home.  Yes we're breaking out the frying oil again and we're making our own funnel cakes. 

Now there are two essential pieces of hardware to construct them.  First, you need a funnel that will hold 1 cup worth of liquid.  A smaller funnel could be used, but I really like the size of the cake created using this much batter.  It'll create a funnel cake that's about 8 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches thick.  Second is a good sized saucepan.  I like the 3-4 quart saucepan that's about 8-9 inches wide.  This allows you to cook one at a time and the size of the pan will help you control the size of the cake.  As you pour out the batter, it'll expand to the sides a bit but since the pan is only 8 inches wide, the batter won't scatter all over the place.  This size of pan will contain the cake to a uniformed size.  After cooking one side, I've found that I can use a fork to slowly turn the cake over, flipping it away from me.  The size of this pan makes this very easy because it'll hold it in place.  No chasing the cake back and forth across the oil pool.  And if any oil splashes, it'll splash away from you.  If you really want to use a larger pan, feel free.  Just know that flipping may be a little harder.

The batter consistency is crucial to the outcome.  It may look like an overly-thin pancake batter, but trust me, it'll do the job.  The recipe should be thin enough to pour out of the funnel in a steady, medium-speed stream.  Test it out before pouring the batter into the oil.  Scoop up some batter in the funnel and let it leak out the bottom, back into the bowl.  Depending on the humidity and the condition of your flour, it could be a little too thick.  In that case, add another 1-2 ounces of milk, mix and try it again until that magic consistency is reached.

Also, have a cookie cooling rack with some paper towels underneath it ready.  When the cake is done, you can use a fork or some tongs to lift it out of the oil and over to the rack.  The rest will allow the excess oil drip off and also cool just enough to eat whenever you're ready.

Funnel Cakes

Makes 4 good size funnel cakes

Vegetable or Canola oil
1 2/3 cups milk
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
A funnel that holds 1 cup of liquid

In a large wide saucepan, add enough oil so it comes 2 inches up the side.  Place it over medium high heat until the temperature reaches 340 degrees (use your digital thermometer to monitor the temperature).

As the oil is heating up, pour the eggs and milk into a mixing bowl and beat thoroughly.  Then in another bowl, add the flour sugar, salt and baking powder.  Stir the dry ingredients so they are well combined.  Pour the egg and milk into the dry ingredient bowl and stir until all of the limps are gone.

Now place your finger over the bottom of the funnel and use it to scoop out about 1 cup of batter.  Hold the funnel over the oil and move your finger, allowing the batter to pour out.  Move the funnel around so you pour the batter all over the cooking oil.  After about 2-3 minutes, flip the cake and cook for another 2 minutes.  Pull the cake out of the oil using tongs or a fork.  Place it on a cooling rack and repeat until all of the batter is gone.

Top with fresh fruit, chocolate or caramel sauce, or just a lot of powdered sugar.

Jalapeño Poppers for the Weekend's Games

Since you may be throwing that Opening NFL Weekend party this weekend, I thought I'd share a recipe for a great appetizer.  Jalapeno Poppers get a bad wrap for being fiery and inedible by those with low tolerances for heat.

Now that's just not true.  Yes, there is some heat in a jalapeno, but if you take the proper care, you can de-fang them, leaving them spicy, but not intolerable.

A great deal of heat resides in the pepper's seeds and then inner white membrane.  Slice one open and you'll the majority of it all in one easy to remove package.  If you slice away where the white membrane connects to the pepper and throw that whole piece away, you'll make them edible for almost anyone.

The trick to a good popper is to ensure that there is an even coating on the whole pepper.  Make sure the entire pepper has the egg wash on it before you shake on the bread crumbs.  If there are gaps around the cheese, you could have a disintegration of the popper when it sits in the oil.  Small holes can happen and you'll have a small amount of leakage, as you can see above.  But anything noticable should have some extra bread crumbs pressed on them to close the gap.

Jalapeno Poppers

Make 20 poppers

Peppers and Filling
10 large jalapenos
12 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup bacon, crumbles into very small bacon bits (optional)

Breading
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups standard bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt.

Slice the tops off of the jalapenos, then cut them in half.  Remove the seeds and as much of the white inner membranes as possible.  Mix the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, salt, garlic powder and bacon bits (optional) in a bowl and stir until it's well combined.  Use a spoon to scoop some filling into each jalapeno, smoothing it out until it's level with the sides of the pepper.  Set them aside on a cookie cooling rack for the time being.

Pour the flour into one gallon ziploc bag.  Crack the eggs into a small bowl.  Add the eggs to the milk and beat them together.  Pour both types of bread crumbs into another ziploc bag and you'll have all of your dredzging stations ready./

At this point, fill a large saucepan or dutch oven with enough oil so it comes 1 1/2-2 inches up the side of the pan.  Place it over medium high heat until the oil reaches 300 degrees.  While you're waiting, coat the peppers.

Take one pepper and shake it in the flour until it has a light coating.  Drop it into the egg wash to coat it.  Finally move it to the bread crumbs bag and shate it until you have an even coat over the entire pepper.  Place the pepper back on the cooling rack to allow the crust to solidify.  Repeat until all the peppers are coated.

Add 4-6 peppers to the oil, making sure not to crowd the pan.  Cook them for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, then remove them to a cooling rack with paper towels beneath to catch the excess oil.  Continue until all of fried, then serve to the masses.  For a different taste, serve a little salsa for dipping. 

So when you need a batch of appetizers, fry up a bunch of peppers.

Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches with Wasabi Mayonnaise

We had an out of town visitor over the weekend.  Liz's cousin Pam stopped by during her road trip vacation.  She had run a marathon the day before, which is pretty darn impressive.  I wish I had that type of endurance.  The only thing I can do for three to four hours is sit at the all you can eat sushi bar.  

So since it's the last weekend of summer and we wanted to keep grilling while the weather's good, we opted for a family favorite and a large group staple, our Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches.   The preparation is very similar to our Teriyaki Chicken that we're prepared before.  Now yes, we are using a store-bought sauce as a base for our marinade.  Use whatever brand you love.  Our favorite is the Yoshida's sauce, but I've also used Seal Sama and one the Kikkoman sauces with some success.  If you wish to build your own teriyaki sauce, by all means do it.  But the reason we use this recipe for our large gatherings is for speed.  Making the marinades by enhancing an existing sauce is extremely fast and extremely good. 

They are perfect for a large group.  With a little preparation and a basic marinade, you can do all the work ahead of time.  You basically throw them on the grill when everyone arrives and have dinner ready in less than 30 minutes.  Just make one batch of marinade for every 5-6 chicken breasts. Then add a few summer side dishes ahead of time, like our summer pasta salad or a basic green salad.  Maybe make the Fruit-cupine as an appetizer beforehand as well and you can feed the masses without spending a ton of time away from your guests at partytime.  Just ask then to congregate around the barbecue while you grill the chicken and watch their mouths water.

Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches with Wasabi Mayonnaise

Teriyaki Chicken Breasts
5-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup teriyaki sauce (your favorite, we use Yoshida's)
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Wasabi Mayonnaise
2 teaspoons wasabi powder
1/3 cup mayonnaise (regular or light, your choice)

Combine the teriyaki sauce ginger, garlic, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce in a large ziploc bag,  Squish the bag to thoroughly mix the ingredients.  Add the chicken breasts into the bag and move them around until they're coated.  Place in another ziploc bag or a bowl to prevent leaks, then place it in the fridge for anywhere between 2 and 24 hours.

You can cook them any way you want.  You can barbecue them over medium heat for 5 minutes each side.  You could bake them in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the digital thermometer that you've inserted into the largest breast reaches 165 degrees.  You would also place them in a skillet over medium heat until they are thoroughly cooked.  Just make sure you coat the pan with cooking spray to avoid having the teriyaki glaze from scorching the pan.

To create the mayonnaise, just combine the mayonnaise and wasabi powder and whip with a fork for about 30 seconds.  Spread generously on the top and bottom of a bun.

Finish by melting some swiss cheese over the top.  You can also garnish with lettuce, a slice of pineapple that has been grilled on the barbecue along with the chicken breasts, or some sauted onions that have had a splash of teriyaki glaze added at the last moment.

So the next time you're grilling for out of town guests, make a batch of these sandwiches and enjoy the food and the company.