Rice Flour

Rice flour is an alternative flour to gluten flour made from wheat, barley and rye.  Often rice flour can be substituted in recipes calling for wheat flour, however the taste and texture may be altered.  Rice flour has less protein that wheat flour.  Rice flour is higher in carbohydrates and lower in fiber that wheat flour.  Both flours are low in fat.  Wheat flour has more protein.  Rice flour is higher in calories.

Rice flour can be made from white rice or browning rice.  The fineness of the flour can be different from wheat flour.  All flours can have different grades of fineness.

Try using rice flour in pancakes and waffles, muffins, cakes, bread, cookies, thickening in soups and sauces, and batters for deep frying.

This Week’s Challenge – Experiment with rice flour

            Try substituting rice flour for all-purpose flour in a recipe.  Decide on a recipe.  Research online for suggestions to help with using rice flour for a substitute.  What were your results?  How was the recipe different?  What did you like about the substitution and what did you not like?  Would other alterations like, more salt, have helped the result?  Remember to record your findings in your journal.

Tip for this Week -  Rice flour

            Rice flour has less protein that wheat flour and can be drier.  It is recommended to and more eggs to baking with rice flour.  Often more liquid is needed, but let the batter set for a few minutes to absorb the liquid before adding more.  Sometimes more salt or baking powder are needed.  It depends on what you are making with this substitution.

This Week in Punkin’s Kitchen

Lemon Cream Cake with Rosewater Glaze

Lemon Cream Cake

½ C     Butter, unsalted at room temperature

2 C      Sugar

4          Eggs

2 C      Rice Flour

2 t        Baking powder

½ C     Cream or buttermilk

1 T       Lemon peel, grated

1 T       Lemon juice

1 t        Vanilla

Glaze

1 C      Water

¾ C     Sugar

1 t        Lemon zest

1 T       Rosewater

The ingredients

1.    Cream the butter and sugar.

2.    Mix in the eggs.

Dry ingredients added to the egg mixture

3.    Add the rice flour and baking powder.

4.    Add the cream, lemon peel, lemon juice and vanilla.

Liquid ingredients added.

5.    Pour into a prepared tart pan.

Mix gently.

Spread in a prepared tart pan.

6.    Bake at 325 degrees 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool.

7.    Allow to cool while you make the glaze.

8.    In a small saucepan, add the water and sugar.

Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.

9.    Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil.  Boil one minute.

10. Remove from the heat and add the lemon zest.

Add the lemon zest.

11. Stir to cool about 1-2 minutes.

12. Add the rosewater.

13. Poke holes with a fork into the cake.

Slowly add the glaze allowing the cake

to absorb all the glaze.

14. Pour the glaze slowly over the cake a little at a time until all the glaze is added.

The lemon zest show be visible on the surface of the cake.

Fish of the Week

Fish & Chips with Rice Flour Batter

2 lb.     Cod Filets

            Vegetable or Canola oil

New potatoes, tri color, sliced

Salt

1 C      Rice flour

1 ½ t   Baking powder

1 t        Salt

            Pepper to taste

1 oz.    Beer

The ingredients

1.    In a heavy frying pan or Dutch oven, add 2-4 inches of oil and heat on high heat.

2.    Wash and scrub, the new potatoes and slice with a knife or crinkle cutter and sprinkle with salt.

I chose to make crinkle chips.  This an old

cutter that I use to cut vegetables and fruit.

I like using different colors to make the dish interesting.

3.    When the oil is hot about 425 degrees, add the potatoes and fry until golden brown.

4.    In a small bowl add the rice flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and blend.

Stir the flour to distribute the seasonings.  This

is a good place to experiment with other seasonings.

5.    Dredge the cod fillets in the flour mixture and set aside.

Add the beer and blend.  The bear will eventually stop foaming.

6.    Add one tablespoon oil and the beer to the flour mixture and stir.  Allow to set to thicken.

7.    When the potatoes are done, remove from the oil to drain on paper towels and sprinkle again with salt.

8.    Drip one filet into the batter and drop into the hot oil.

When the potatoes are done, remove them from the oil

and place on paper towels to drain.  Sprinkle well with

sea salt.  Dredge to cod in the batter and add the cod to the

same oil used for the potatoes.

Add caption

9.    Continue with the other filets until the pan is full.  Do not crown the filets, they should not be touching.

10. Cook until lightly browned on one side and turn to brown the other side.

11. Remove each fillet when done to drain on paper towels.

12. Serve with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce or my favorite Sriracha ketchup.  Also malt vinegar or fresh lemon go well with this.

Note: the rice flour texture is a little different.  It will not turn dark brown, a beautiful light golden brown.  It will be a little more crunchy.  It is hard to get it to stick to the fish, so there may be patches of naked fish.

Happy cooking!

St. Patrick’ Day

American traditions are different than the Irish traditions for celebrating the feast day for St. Patrick.   Irish immigrants to America learned from other immigrants.  The traditional corned beef was brought to America by German immigrants. It was a way of preserving the meat with salt and pickling spices.  It needs to be boiled to remove the strong spices and salt to make the meat edible.   Irish immigrants used the corned beef as an inexpensive cut of meat.  Many Irish dishes are stews or boiled dinners.  Cabbage and potatoes are staples in the Irish household.  The corned beef lent itself well to a boiled dinner with potatoes and cabbage.

 

Traditional Irish cuisine centers on cabbage and potatoes.  Fish and seafood are very common main dishes.  Salmon is very common.  Game, lamb and pork are more common the beef.  Cows provided milk and dairy products are part of the Irish cuisine.  Cheese is a big industry and some of the sharpest cheddar is made there. Beer, ale, stout and whiskey are more common than wine. 

 

Irish cuisine, as cuisine the world over, is constantly changing.  It is transforming from the bland uninteresting food of the past, to innovative, and brilliant.  Gastro Pubs are growing in popularity and the cuisine is catching on throughout the world.

 

We consider ourselves Irish in my family; of course, there are other nationalities and culture in there, too.  I usually make corned beef and cabbage 2-3 times a year.  I usually make it the week of St. Patrick’s Day.  For St. Patrick’s Day I make Drunken Fisherman’s pie, Irish soda bread, colcannon, or Irish stew made with lamb and Guinness (stout).  I usually buy beer to make green on St. Paddy’s Day.  My favorite is Smithwick (ale) followed by Harp’s (beer).  If I go to a party I like to take a cheese tray with several Irish cheeses.  You can find Irish cheeses with porter or Irish whiskey, too.

 

This Week’s Challenge- Research Irish Cooking

 

            This year add one Irish dish to your St. Patrick’s Day celebration.  If your family cannot do without the Corned Beef and Cabbage, just add another dish to the meal.  If you can do away with this American tradition, add a fisherman’s pie or a fish dish.  Fish ‘n Chips is very popular throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.  If you’re going to a party, take Irish cheeses and smoked salmon or research Irish appetizers and snacks.

 

Tip for this Week – Frying bacon

 

            Start the bacon by placing it in a cold pan.  Place the pan on the heat and cook on medium high heat.  Turn the bacon (the Irish call them rashers) often, cooking to the desired crispness.  Remove and drain on paper towels.  Continue adding more bacon to the pan as finished bacon is removed.  Some Southerners like the bacon deep fried in bacon dripping.  In the olden days bacon drippings were saved and used as flavoring in vegetables, fried potatoes, and fried fish and chicken.  Bacon drippings were added to cornbread and everything fried.  Today bacon drippings is not considered healthy as bacon and its drippings are saturated fat.

 

This Week in Punkin’s Kitchen

 

 Irish Beer Cheese Soup

 

 

     This is a comfort food for e.  It can be served chunky or pureed.  It it is too thick, add more stock or beer.  Serve it with Irish Soda Bread, posted on March 12, 2016.

 

 

 

I left this chunky, but it is great pureed, too

 

32 oz.              Irish beer, Harp’s is recommended

12 oz.             Vegetable or chicken stock

1 T                   Onion powder

1 t                    White pepper

1 lb.                 Potatoes, peeled and diced

1 T                   Cornstarch

¼ C                 Water

1 lb.                 Irish cheddar cheese, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

 

The Ingredients

1.    Add the beer, stock, onion powder and pepper to a large soup pot.

 

It will be foamy.

 

2.    Over medium heat bring to a boil.

3.    Add the potatoes and cook until soft.

 

 

 

Potatoes cleaned, peeled and diced. 
I would dice a little small.

 

 

 

 

4.    Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and add to the soup and reduce the heat.

 

Mix well and let set a minute or two. 
This will remove any lumps.
Stir well before adding to the broth.

 

Quickly stir in the cornstarch mixture.
It will thicken quickly and
continually stir until well blended.

 

5.    Add the cheese a handful at a time.

 

Stir until the cheese is well melted.
At this point the soup may be pureed.

 

6.    Ladle into serving bowl and serve with Irish Soda Bread.

 

This is a strong soup.  If you like beer
and extra sharp cheddar, you will love this.

 

 

Colcannon

(Irish Mashed Potatoes with Cabbage)

     This is an economical way to use up leftover mashed potatoes or to stretch the potatoes to serve more people.  If using leftover potatoes, cook the bacon, onions and cabbage and then add the leftover mashed potatoes.

 

Colcannon served with Irish Whiskey
Salmon and salad

3-4      Russet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and quartered

3-4      Slices of Bacon

¼         Onion, finely chopped

1-2 C  Cabbage, finely sliced

            Milk

            Butter

            Salt and pepper

 

The ingredients
I substituted canola oil for the bacon.
If you use the bacon, I usually crumble
the cooked bacon and add it to the
mashed potatoes.

1.    Prepare the potatoes and boil until soft enough to mash.

Cook the potatoes until soft enough to mash.

 

2.     While the potatoes are cooking, fry the bacon until crisp.  Remove the slices to drain. 

3.    In the same frying pan sauté the onion in the bacon drippings until soft. 

Stir often and it is okay if there is some
browned bits.

 

4.    Add the shredded cabbage and stir to coat.  Allow the cabbage to cook down while the potatoes are cooking. 

I used savoy cabbage this time

Stir to coat the cabbage and continue cooking
until very soft and reduced in size

 

The cabbage cooked down and ready
for the potatoes

5.    When the potatoes are done, drain and mash them with butter, milk, salt and pepper. 

Drain and mash as ususal

I usually mash by hand and leave it a
little chunky.

Add the milk and add to the cabbage mixture

 

6.    Add the mashed potatoes to the cabbage.  Stir to mix and mash down the potatoes in the frying pan.  Press them into the bottom with a spatula and allow to cook unstirred until the bottom browns a little. 

Add the potatoes and stir to combing
with the onions and cabbage.

Then mash to mixture in the bottom of the
pan and let it cook undisturbed until
brown on the bottom.

Then flip it over and brown the other side.
It is difficult to turn.  Just mask in
level in the bottom of the pan and
cook undisturbed until browned.

 

7.    Turn the potatoes over to brown on the other side.  There should be just a little browned.  Serve hot.

To plate place the dish over the pan and flip it over.
The colcannon should drop into the dish.

Colcannon served with Irish whiskey
salmon and salad.

 

 

Fish Dish of the Week

 

Irish Whiskey Baked Salmon

 

2 T       Honey

¼ C     Cider vinegar

¼ C     Irish whiskey

2 T       Thyme, freshly chopped

1 ½ t    Lemon zest, grated

2 T       Vegetable oil

            Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4          Salmon filets

The ingredients

 

1.    Mix together honey, vinegar, whiskey, thyme, lemon zest, oil, salt and pepper. Pour over salmon and marinate 1 hour on the counter, or 4 hours refrigerated.


Place the salmon in a Ziploc bag.


 

Mix the remaining ingredients together.

Add the marinade to the bag with the salmon.
Allow the salmon to marinate for four hours or longer 

 

2.    Preheat oven to 450°F.

3.    Remove salmon from marinade and place on a rack over a roasting pan.

Remove the salmon from the bad and place
in a dish for baking.

Pour the marinade over the salmon and bake.

 

4.    Grill or Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, basting once with the marinade or until golden and white juices are just beginning to appear.

Salmon served with colcannon and a
salad of baby greens heirloom tomato
and rainbow radish

 

http://www.food.com/recipe/irish-roasted-salmon-169936

 

Erin go baugh!

Happy Cooking!