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LOL! Too cute tmj! :D I have tons of recipes in my repertoire and you want me to single ONE out? You cwazy?! he-he ;))

Okay, okay... Here is my super, secret squirrel recipe for perfect, low-fat bread (it's not exact...I'm never exact. lol)

About 5 cups of white bread flour (not all at once)
1-teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon citric acid (aka vitamin C powder)
1 cup room temperature buttermilk
1 cup warm water
1-teaspoon canola oil or olive oil (any good oil or even butter will do)

Directions:
You mix 2 to 3 of the 5 cups of flour with all of the above ingredients...
If you don't have a stand mixer you're gonna have to really work that concoction with vim and vigor but if you have a stand mixer then let the mixer do the work a'fore ya. What you want to achieve is a 'gluten build up'...the mix will resemble cake batter but as the gluten builds it will start to slightly pull away from your bowl....then you can slowly add in more flour..you may not need ALL the flour and you may need more depending on the humidity in your kitchen.

You knead your dough with a dough hook until the dough is cleaning the sides of the bowl or if by hand and you knead it until it fights back and the dough is resilient to your pummeling…

Now here is a GOOD trick…ready?

Get your largest, lidded pot you own (I use my 8 quart, stainless steel lobster pot)…Oil the inside of your pot a good bit…oil your dough and plop that sucker in the pot. NOW, put that pot of dough in a bath of hot tap-water…let the dough rise to the top for a couple hours (change the warm water if the water went cold) and punch it down…let it rise again and repeat.

Time to preheat your oven to 420 degrees…also if you have a food grade sprayer handy fill that with fresh water…

–Now your dough is ready to be made into pizza dough or French bread, rolls or whatever your heart desires…let the ’final’ shaped dough rise once more and if you are making French bread ‘slash’ the tops and coat with a bit of oil (I use those new-fangled silicone basting brushes).

Now, pop those gorgeous buns/bread/etc. in the oven and close the oven door FAST! Wait about 6 minutes and then open up the oven and ‘spritzer’ your bread with that food grade sprayer filled with water you have on hand…spritz as much as you can but fast and then close the oven again…do that a couple more times… Bring your bread out once it has a nice, shiny golden top…let it cool on a rack… FINALLY, time to EAT! :D

My German-Polish Oven-Roasted Potato Salad. It takes a while to make, but it's worth the effort.

I'm back, Jep! :))

Okay, I hope and pray I remember all of these ingredients proper-like but this "rag noodle chicken soup" I make has gotten raves from even the pickiest teenage kid-folks...so here goes...

Mama Angeline's (that's me) Rag-noodle chicken soup
First, sauté some chicken breast (bone-in or skinless or whatever you can get for a good deal)…then let that chicken rest a bit in the fridge and once it’s cool enough cube it up and set the meat back in the fridge for later. I sauté my chicken breast with just some kosher salt, Hungarian paprika and fresh ground pepper in olive oil.

-Now sear up some sweet onions, (let the onions cook a bit first to caramelize), then add in your diced carrots, celery, diced red bell pepper and don’t forget a bit of fresh cracked black pepper and salt and a wee touch of sugar (I’d say about a couple tablespoons or 1/8 cup).

Let the above veges cool down a bit…

Meanwhile get a big pot (biggest you have)…because this soup GROWS (5 quart on up pot is your best bet).

In your big ol’ pot…get some chicken soup stock brewing [simmering]…I use the “better than bouillon” brand or another brand I use is McCormicks’s Real Chicken Base that I get on the ‘cheap’ from Costco.

Okay…so now you’ve got some chicken stock simmering right? Still with me? Hangin’ in there? Okay! Now this is when you can add in your diced chicken from the fridge, your cooled sautéed veges and reduce the heat a bit now…we don’t want to ‘boil’ our soup…we just want it at a nice friendly, fragrant simmer.

Yay! Time to make our rag noodles (this is the easy, fun part)! I promise! :D

Now for rag noodles all you need is white, unbleached, all-purpose flour, salt, some eggs and oil and water…
What you do is you take about 1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour, add the salt, mix up a bit to get the salt thoroughly incorporated and then you crack 2 eggs into a medium bowl with about ¼ cup water along with a teaspoon of good oil (Canola etc.)… Beat those ingredients with a whisk. Now it’s time to ‘gently’ add some of that liquid goo into the dry flour mix…this can get a bit mess (as far as hands so be sure to have VERY clean hands)…what you want is to do [at first] is use a fork to carefully and slowly incorporate some of the egg mix into your flour…you probably won’t need ALL of your egg mix…again, this is a texture thing but if you add too much liquid don’t worry…just plop in some more flour. Okay, now you’ve probably added about ¾ your egg mixture and you’re thinking it looks way too dry…ahh but you haven’t gotten your hands in it yet have you? Yup! Time to dip those hands in and start to ‘crumble’ the bits between your fingers…what you want are nice ‘raggedy’ egg noodles that are just moist enough to form but dry enough to stay separated. Does that make sense? I hope so.

Okay…so now we’ve got some rag-noodles ready…is our pot simmering? A nice slow, yet bubbly simmer is what we want (it will make for some nice, chewy, rag noodles in our soup). Now you’ll need to have handy a big spoon for your big pot of simmering soup… Are you ready? Okay…this is when you carefully and slowly start to crumble your rag noodles into your simmering soup…just a little bit at a time and then stir each time you add them until they are all used up. This is what will make your soup thick and rich!

Okay…let the rag noodles simmer for about a good ten minutes…do NOT BOIL…just keep at a nice even simmer.

Times up! Now…in a medium bowl, empty one can of cream of chicken soup…add in one cup of light or regular sour cream (again, Tillamook makes the best sour cream if you can get it). Whisk the cream of chicken soup with the sour cream and set aside on the counter (we’ll be using it soon so no need to refrigerate).

Now, you want to add in some frozen peas (about a ½ cup or so) and some frozen green beans to your simmerin’ soup (you can omit those if you hate peas or green beans but I love sneaking in veges any chance I can get)!

Okay…your frozen veges just brought down the simmer…time to up the heat a bit…BUT this is the perfect time to add some of your soup to the cream of chicken soup and sour cream mix to temper it…(a good ladle full should do).

Once you’ve tempered your chicken soup and sour cream mix…slowly stir it into your pot of soup…

Now you can add some fresh ground pepper, fresh or dried parsley and a bit of dried sage…(fresh sage is a bit too strong for this soup). A good bay leaf is nice but not necessary if you don’t have one handy. -A dash or two of Worcestershire sauce and some kosher salt to taste (I try to ever-so-slightly under-salt my soup so that folks can salt to their own taste).

I hope I didn’t over-explain this soup and make it seem more complicated than it is…it’s actually very easy and great comfort food.

Love & Hugs,

Cheffy

HOISIN CHICKEN WITH CASHEWS

INGREDIENTS
• Marinade
• 2 Tbl Szechuan pepper, ground medium fine
• 2 Tbl soy
• 1 Tbl white wine (I use dry Vermouth almost exclusively as a cooking wine.
• I Tbl oil
• 1 Tsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbl chopped garlic
• 1Tbl chopped/grated ginger
• Oil for stir-frying
• 2 whole, boned and skinned and TRIMMED chicken breasts cut into bite-size cubes
(Pre-boned "cutlets" come in ¼ breast pieces - you'll need 4 cutlets). Although they are advertised as ready-to-cook don't believe it. Trim off any cartilage, fat, and yucky stuff. The "cutlet" may separate into two pieces, the smaller piece is called the "filet mignon" and is highly prized. The French have some old Grande Cuisine recipes using just this piece. Keep in mind that the French gourmets can be quite silly people.)
• 1 can whole water chestnuts, quartered. Sliced water chestnuts are okay, but fine Chinese gourmets prefer that all ingredients be the same basic shape. (Ok, all gourmets can be silly.)
• 2 handsful of cashews
• 3 Tbls Hoisin sauce
• Hot stuff - Chinese chili sauce (1/4 tsp??), Tabasco, or even cayenne pepper to taste
• ½ cup broth
• 4 scallions, chopped coarsely into 2" lengths
• 1 scallion sliced finely
• Extra broth/water and cornstarch slurry to adjust thickness as needed.

Mix marinade and chicken. Let sit for 15 minutes or so. No longer than an hour, no shorter than 5 minutes
Heat wok on HIGH, add oil to film sides and bottom.
Heat wok until oil is almost smoking.
Add chicken in as close to one layer as possible. Let cook, undisturbed. until chicken is almost browned. Turn chicken and begin stir frying
Add long scallions, and water chestnuts. Stir fry briefly
Move food to sides and add Hoisin and hot stuff. Adjust sauce thickness as needed.
Add cashews stir-fry to heat through.

Serve immediately garnished with uncooked, thinly sliced scallions. I like to serve plain boiled rice and buttered green peas with the dish.

Grilled Sea Scallops with Mango Tomatillo Salsa. Serves 4 - 6.

For the scallops :

16 - 20 large sea scallops
salt & pepper
olive oil

For the salsa :

2 - 3 ripe mangoes
12 - 15 tomatillos
1 red onion
2 roasted red bell peppers
3 - 4 fresno chilis ( jalapenos will work but are spicier )
1 clove garlic
1 handful of fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons honey ( or to taste )
Juice of 3 - 4 limes
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds, lightly toasted and fresh ground
Salt & Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Make the salsa few hours ahead of time, as the flavors will meld better. Medium dice the mangoes, tomatillos ( be sure to rinse them first, and you may want to splash them with lime juice after dicing them to prevent discoloration ), red onion, and roasted red bell peppers, combine and set aside. Finely mince the fresno chilis, add to vegetable/fruit mix. In a mixing bowl crush the garlic clove with a teaspoon of salt, creating a paste. Squeeze the limes into garlic paste and mix. Add the ground cumin, and the salt and black pepper to taste. Add the honey and stir it till it melts. Put the vegetable/fruit mix into bowl, chop the cilantro, add to mixture and toss. Taste the salsa, and if it needs more acidity add some white wine vinegar. Put in refridgerator.

When ready to serve. Prepare the grill on high flame, clean the grill grate. Pat the moisture off the sea scallops with paper towels. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper. With a rolled up paper towel or clean dish towel, dip in olive oil and rub it on the grill. Cook the scallops on each side for about three minutes. To ensure proper doneness, touch the scallops with your finger. When they just begin to spring back a little, they are done and should be removed immediately to prevent overcooking.

Place 3 - 4 scallops on a serving plate. Spoon the salsa over the scallops in a diagonal pattern, so that grill marks can still be seen. Place a few dollops of salsa on the plate. Serve.

LunaPierCook: Your potato salad sounds extraordinary -- count me among the Pavlovian salivators... Plan to prepare a batch to take to my young son and his girlfriend in Albuquerque. Matched with grilled steaks and an ice cream dessert, we're in for a special evening -- thanks for the inspiration.

Hi HatLady! My Mary has an aunt in Albuquerque and was just there two weeks ago to take the dear lady up to the High Finance restaurant. She's planning on going back in the spring and I'll finally be able to go with her ... as to the potato salad, one of our buddies is a local ABC News reporter and he'll eat that stuff for breakfast in the studio! This past weekend, he asked to come over to learn how to make it. Some fun pics of him helping are here.

I haven't made this in a spell, but it was one of my most in-demand recipes. Now it's in my immersion blender cookbook, YOUR KITCHEN'S MAGIC WAND:

Beef Tenderloin Medallions Stuffed with Brie
in a Cranberry-Balsamic Reduction

This wonderfully rich dish with its lingering flavors comes together very quickly, and makes quite a lasting impression.

Four 1 1/2-2"-thick slices from the tournedo end of beef tenderloin
lightly salted and peppered all-purpose flour for dredging

2 tablespoons good olive oil, preferably porcini mushroom-infused
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, in all
1/4 cup dried cranberries, covered with dry white vermouth in a
glass measure, brought just to the boil in a microwave oven
3-4 large shallots, peeled
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon dark molasses, to broaden the sauce (optional)
1/2 pound of just-ripe brie cheese, peeled if you like,
to stuff butterflied filets

Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Split the filets crosswise, leaving a "hinge" of meat that enables you to open the filet like a book. Dry the steaks thoroughly with paper towels, and dredge them in the seasoned flour. Proceed promptly.

In the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter over lively medium heat, in a large heavy skillet, sauté the dredged and opened filets, 2-3 minutes per side. Place each steak (or two, for a large portion) on an oven-proof serving dish, or on a baking sheet. Tent with foil to keep warm.

In a mini-processor, mince shallots and spill them into the skillet over medium-low heat. In same processor, purée the cranberry/vermouth mixture. Add to the skillet with balsamic and optional molasses. Reduce over medium heat for 6 minutes or so while proceeding with steaks.

Lay slices of brie cheese across one side of each opened steak, and close the other half over them, using toothpicks to fasten. Warm in the oven for 3-4 minutes, just until the brie melts.

Swirl sweet butter into the sauce. Adjust seasoning, pour around steaks, and serve at once.

Yield: 4 servings