aww_some_sauce

Potato/Bacon Croquettes/コロッケ

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:17:31 GMT

With this recipe I made about 20 or so croquettes about the size of squished golf balls. I also tried to make some longer, McDonald's Hash-brown shaped ones too. Either way they came out super tasty. I hope you guys can enjoy them too!

Equipment
1 Deep frying pan
2 Small plates
1 Small bowl
2 Large plates
Tongs
Potato masher/fork
Knife
Cutting board
Paper towels

Ingredients
4 Russet potatoes
1 8oz Container of 'Real' Bacon Bits (or 1 cup)
Some cooking oil (I used Peanut oil)
2 Tablespoons of butter
3 Eggs
1 Cup flour
A bag of Japanese Panko breadcrumbs

Step 1: What's Taters, Precious?
-Place a pot on the stove, full of water, to boil.
-Wash & peel the potatoes
-Cut them up into maybe 1" cubes, drop them into the pot.
-Let them boil for 10-15 minutes, or until you can stick a fork in them with relative ease.
-As they are pulled out, drop the pieces in a big bowl, in which you can mash them with a fork, or an actual masher.
-Once youve got them all mashed (and there will be a LOT) add in the butter and bacon bits

Step 2: The Messy Bit
-In preparation for this part, may i suggest you lay out two small plates, one large one, and one small bowl.
     -In the bowl, drop in the eggs, and mix them up with a fork.
     -On one small plate, put down enough flour to cover the whole thing.
     -On the other plate, put down a thick coating of Panko.
     -Leave the large plate empty. You will put the finished but uncooked Croquettes here.
-To make the actual croquettes, there are 4 steps.
1) Take the mashed and bacony potatoes youve made, and scoop up some in your hand, rolling it into a golfball shape, then squishing it down so its about 1/2"-1" high.
2) Roll your little taterball around in the FlourPlate, so it gets a nice light coating.
3) Drop this Flourball in the eggs, and just make sure the whole thing is covered. (Sometimes the white of the egg goos on/off the Taterball, but just pull it off. It's gross.)
4) Roll the egg/flour/taterball in the breadcrumbs to get a nice even coating. Then place it on the Large plate.
Your hands are going to get covered in a nasty mix of the three plates' ingredients, wash them as much as you need.

Step 4: Frying High Now...
-Take a deep frying pan, and put in enough oil to make it about 1/2" deep (so your croquettes get totally cooked, even on the sides.)
-Put it on about Medium heat, too high and they cook too much before you can get them out!
-Get yet another large plate, and put a paper towel over it. You can put the finished croquettes here & the towel will get rid of excess oil.
-Using tongs (hot oil is hot, yo.) place the croquettes in the pan. Let them cook until you notice the breadcrumbs reaching a satisfactory brown color.
-Flip them, and repeat. Then tong them over to the paper towel plate. Keep doing this until the plate is full. Then put another towel over the ones on the plate and stack 'em!

<-- Frying!

                       Crispy!---->

Step 5: Om Nom Nom..
These are best with Kewpie mayo (Japanese!)
Or Tonkatsu sauce ...
Or Ketchup...
Or Sour Cream...

Hopefully next time I will be able to figure out/post Cream Cheese Menchi...*drool*

Cookie Recipe!! =D

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:03:33 GMT

Alright, so tonight I made my second-ever batch of these cookies. I have to say that are AWESOME. I've got everyone at work and home totally hooked.
This recipe names about 20-30 cookies depending on how big a ball of dough you smack down on that baking pan. Mine were pretty massive. But that just means the middle stays super soft. mm-mm.
Oh, and for the ingredients list I'm not using any abbreviations, just for you uplift17 !

Step 1: Preheat over to about 375 degrees.

Ingredients

3 cups flour
1&1/4 teaspoons kosher salt (i think regular salt will work just as well but thankfully we had the kosher stuff lying around)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup melted butter (stick it in the microwave for 2 45-second bursts & that tends to do the trick)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 tablespoon half & half (or cream, or regular milk)

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
Hefty handful of coconut shavings

Step 2: Dry Mix
In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda & powder. Make a hole in the center of the dry mix.

Step 3: Liquid Mix
In a SEPARATE bowl, mix together the melted butter, 2 types of sugar and vanilla extract. Add the eggs one by one, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Then add corn syrup and milk/cream. Again, mix until a smooth creamy mixture is formed.

Step 4: Puttin' it all Together
Pour the Liquid Mix into the hole you made in the Dry Mix. Use a spatula to slowly work it all together. Eventually they'll merge nicely and become a tasty cookie dough.
Here you'll dump in the chips & coconut. My portions for that are super generous because I love cookies wher eyou simply can't get a bite of plain dough, so adjust to your favor.

Step 5: Baking Prep
I hate cleaning pans, so I rip off a piece of aluminum foil and spray that down with cooking oil/lather it in crisco. Either way, grease the pan. Grab a big spoon, and plop those blobs of tastiness on there. Leave a good 1-2" between them because they always flatten out.

Step 6: Baking
Soo~ I never actually timed them, i just kept peeking in on them from time to time, because I make these at the same time I make chocolate chip muffins. So uh, just keep an eye on them. I like mine super raw <3

Step 7: Eating
Be sure to use milk!

Ding! Lightbulb

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:35:05 GMT

Alright dudes,
So i know i havent kept on the meme thing - I will though! During the workweek i just get kind of crazy and sleepy once im out of le office. But once i'm no longer house/dog sitting things will be better. But anyway - to the point!! >_>

This one is directed mainly at murasaki_hime and astarel7 and any other cool dudes heading to Irish Fest.
Sooo~ I was wondering if you guys had 浴衣　（ゆかた） you might want to wear there? We could be totally outlandish and hilarious. But it'll be a hot weekend most likely and they'll be super comfy. (Oh and I desperately want a reason to pull mine out of 外国 retirement <_<)
Aaanyway i am about to sleep and this may just be one of those half-awake brainstorms that seems silly in the morning - but for now! Let me know if this appeals to you!

first meme posting

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:43:00 GMT

Leave me a comment with "I SEE FIVE LIGHTS" in the subject line.

I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

1. How the heck did you learn to sew, bitch?!
First my mom taught me to sew yarn into patterns on those plastic canvases. Then I started doing pull rugs. Then my grandmother gave me a cruelle set for christmas like 10 years ago. Somewhere between when I started and when she gave me that I figured sewing fabric together cant be that different (oh and 7th grade home ec sewing machine to make a stuffed bear/dog) and i just kinda figured it out. Ive made a couple dolls, and done a lot of mending on my own clothes (i am such a cheapo) that I guess I generally got the jist of how things are put together. Maybe? Idk. It just happened. o_o

2. If you had to pick one to have forever, either your DS or your PSP, which do you choose?
Oh DS for sure. PSP is fun but DS has the M3 card and ability to play games from any region.

3. Are you working on your nihongoes this summer, or just kickin' it?
Ugh i SHOULD be. but just watching a few animes. I've been meaning to translate this manga ive had for AGES and cant see to understand (not sure if i want to from what ive seen) but im too busy with work and star trek TNG and being a lazy ass =(

4. Do you have any plans for jobs and Hawaii?
Not in any particular sense. Just that Hawaii seems to be my end goal of the summer. I feel like I would like a secretary job where I would deal with English and Japanese clients. But whether or not those are available is the real question, eh?

5. What is your all-time favorite song?
My favorite song changes all the time. It really all depends on the mood I'm in. Recently I've been going through albums of Gnarls Barkley, The Aquabats, and this weird Bomberman remix.

Patties!

Sat, 16 May 2009 02:43:18 GMT

Alright guys, I decided to lay out Mama Conway's lovely recipe for Peppermint Patties here. Today I was in the grocery store and randomly decided to make some. I called her and wrote out the recipe on a napkin. (I know, so classy.)

You'll need:

1 block of cream cheese
1 tsp (thats TEAspoon) peppermint extract
9 cups confectionery sugar
3/4 cup milk choco chips
3/4cup semi-sweet choco chips
9 tbsp (TABLE spoons) of shortening (crisco is what i use)
Baking sheets

Step one: The filling

In a big bowl, but in the softened block of cream cheese and the tsp of extract. start adding the sugar slowly! Blend them together.
You *can* just dump all the sugar in there and mix it up, but it takes longer and is super frustrating. (Feels like youre just stirring a bowl of sugar)
Now once it's all mixed together nicely, youll have to use a spoon - or your hands (hands are easier IMO) to make the little patties themselves. Take a flat pan or plate and cover it in metal foil or wax baking paper. You'll be putting your patties on this. They can be in any shape or size - I usually go with flat circles about an inch - inch and a half wide. Your hands are going to warm up the minty goop and it'll stick to your hands, I recommend just starting out with wet hands - it keeps it from sticking for a bit.
Once you've got a full baking sheet or are out of mint goop or both, stick them in the fridge to cool for one hour!

Step 2: The coating.

In a medium-sized bowl, take the cups of chips and dump them in. Now toss on the shortening. Put it in the microwave. Every 30 seconds or so stir it until its a nice smooth pool of tasty choco. Mmm.

Now, how you do the process of coating them is your own dealio, but here's how I do it.

Taking the baking sheet out of the fridge, peel the Mint-goop patties off and place them upside-down in the same spot.
place one of the patties on a fork, and then dip it into the chocolate. Use a spoon with your other hand to splash the patty with chocolate so its totally covered. Hold it on the fork above the bowl of choco to let it drain off a bit, then put it on either a new baking sheet or the same one. Repeat for all the patties until they are all covered in deliiicious choco.

Place in the fridge for about 30-60 minutes. Then you're done! It's best to keep them in the fridge so they dont melt in your hands so quickly. This recipe makes about 30 or so patties. They are tasty. Enjoy!