May 2021 – Don's House of Fine Patisseries

May 30, 2021December 10, 2021

Making English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches — Photos

This week’s single cooking project from my collection of recipes was yet more pickled eggs; this week has been busy, so, I took the photos from one of the extra projects I did last weekend while I was still at the cottage, cooking a large number of breakfast sausages for the freezer, and the subject of this post, English muffin breakfast sandwiches.

This is a bit of a no-brainer of a recipe, since as I was mounting this post, I saw a photo of a virtually identical sandwich printed on the bag of English muffins!

I normally cook breakfast sausages in advance and in relatively large quantities — as recently as last weekend, in fact — about 2 kg (4-1/2 lbs) at a time, which makes making breakfast sandwiches like this and my other breakfast sandwiches a lot easier and quick.

If you don’t cook breakfast sausages in advance to keep in the freezer, begin with the cooking of some sausages in the number of sandwiches you will be making for breakfast. You may also use the resulting grease, appropriately drained and wiped up from the skillet, later when the egg will be fried, instead of the specified olive oil.

Making the sandwiches:

First, a frozen, cooked sausage was taken out, and allowed to partly defrost:

The sausage was sliced along its length:

The two sausage halves were then cut in half crosswise, and then put aside for a moment:

An English muffin was taken out (notice the picture of this recipe on the label):

Since I keep English muffins in the freezer, I placed the English muffin in the microwave oven …

English muffin placed in the microwave oven

… and the microwave oven was set to a short time period to partly defrost the English muffin:

20 seconds set on microwave oven to partly defrost English muffin

The English muffin was sliced into two halves, and put aside for a moment:

A slice of processed cheese was taken out and unwrapped, and placed on the counter to warm up to room temperature (note that natural cheese sliced off the block may also be used):

The corners of the slice of cheese were folded over toward the centre, to resize the cheese to the English muffin, and then put aside for a moment:

Corners of the cheese folded over toward centre

Olive oil was poured into a cast iron skillet on the stove:

The olive oil was spread over part of the surface of the skillet:

Olive oil spread over part of the surface of the skillet

The stove was turned to a medium heat:

While the skillet was heating up, the English muffin halves were placed in the toaster oven:

English muffin halves placed in the toaster oven

The toast oven was set to the time setting required to toast English muffins:

Toaster oven set to toast English muffins

An egg was taken out:

The sausage pieces were placed in the skillet, and the egg was cracked into the skillet:

Sausage pieces placed in the skillet, and egg cracked into the skillet

The egg was fried, and edges folded into the centre to resize the frying egg to the English muffin:

I like fried eggs turned over, so the egg was flipped over:

At this point, the English muffins were almost toasted:

The toasted English muffins were taken out of the toaster oven:

Toasted English muffin taken out of toaster oven

The folded over processed cheese slice was placed on one of the English muffin halves:

Processed cheese slice placed on English muffin half

The fried egg was transferred on top of the processed cheese:

Fried egg transferred on top of processed cheese

The sausage pieces were placed on top of the fried egg:

Sausage pieces placed on top of fried egg

The other half of the English muffin was placed on top of the sausage pieces:

Second English muffin half placed on top of sausage pieces

And my yummy breakfast was ready to eat!

May 25, 2021June 29, 2021

Making Crisped Rice Treats — Photos

This week’s cooking projects from my collection of recipes included more zucchini with a bacon and onion tomato sauce, chicken soup, blondies, plain cake with a lemon sauce, English muffin breakfast sandwiches (the recipe of which I ~~will eventually convert~~ I have now converted to my current format, because … I took pictures while cooking it, for future use in a blog post), and cooking breakfast sausages to place in the freezer (pictures of which I also took for future use in a blog post, because although sausages won’t get a recipe, cooked sausages are included in a few of my recipes, and to me, their cooking fits reasonably well into this series of blog posts.)

I was pleased to have on hand the pictures from making the crisped rice treats I made last weekend at the cottage!

Making the Crisped Rice Treats:

First, margarine was taken out, and some margarine was picked up on a paper towel:

Margarine picked up by hand with a paper towel

The margarine was spread in a 13″ x 9″ x 2″ cake pan:

The greased pan was then put aside.

6-1/2 cups of crisped rice breakfast cereal were measure out:

The crisped rice cereal was transferred to a mixing bowl and put aside:

Crisped rice cereal transferred to a mixing bowl

5-1/2 cups of mini marshmallows were measured out:

The marshmallows were put aside.

A large, heavy pot was taken out:

The stove burner was set to a low heat:

Two dollops of margarine were “measured” out:

The margarine was transferred to the heavy pot:

The margarine was melted in the heavy pot:

Once the margarine was fully melted, the mini marshmallows were added to the heavy pot with the melted margarine:

Mini marshmallows added to the melted margarine

The stove setting was raised to medium heat:

The marshmallows were constantly stirred while melting, to avoid burning:

Constantly stirring the marshmallows while melting to avoid burning

While the marshmallows were melting a few feet away and being constantly watched, a cutting board was taken out, to use as a trivet a few moments later:

Cutting board taken out to be used as a trivet

Very soon, the marshmallows were completely melted, and well mixed with the margarine:

The pot of melted mini marshmallows and margarine mix was transferred to the cutting board:

Pot of melted marshmallows and margarine mix transferred to cutting board

The crisped rice cereal was transferred to the melted marshmallow and margarine mix:

Crisped rice cereal transferred to melted marshmallow and margarine mix

The crisped rice cereal and melted marshmallow and margarine mix were thoroughly mixed together:

Crisped rice cereal and melted marshmallow and margarine mix thoroughly mixed together

The mixture was transferred to the greased 13″ x 9″ x 2″ cake pan:

Mixture transferred to greased 13″ x 9″ x 2″ cake pan

The mixture was allowed to slightly cool, but while still warm, it was spread out evenly in the baking pan with a stiff stainless steel egg flipper:

Mixture spread out evenly in the baking pan with an egg flipper

Mixture spread out evenly in the baking pan

After cooling completely, the contents of the pan were cut into various bite-sized pieces:

Cooled crisped rice and marshmallow mix cut into pieces

Finally, the treats were transferred to a sealable plastic container:

Treats transferred to a sealable plastic container

Of course these crispy little treats are yummy!

May 17, 2021May 17, 2021

Making Pepperoni Pizza With a Biscuit-Dough Crust — Photos

This past week’s cooking projects from my collection of recipes included yet again more bran muffins for mom, crisped rice treats (which will be the subject of a future post since I also took photos of the process, to keep for future use), and the subject of this post, my pepperoni pizza.

A post that is an ancestor to my current project of creating photo posts of my personal recipes was for my pepperoni pizza, the same recipe for this post; however, it was a simple posting with only some photos of a few of the steps, and the post was created more on a dare after I randomly texted said photos to my brother, who replied “A blog post, perhaps?”

Note that in this post, while some photos below may betray the order in which they were actually taken relative to the others (although all were taken in the same session), some ingredients’ preparation steps are presented at the beginning as part of the mise-en-place steps for the sake of the narrative. Also note that these pizzas were made at the cottage, hence the use of different kitchen equipment.

Making the pizza:

An oven rack was placed on the top position in the oven, and the oven was preheated to 450F:

Olive oil was added to two #8 cast iron skillets:

… and the olive oil was evenly spread over the skillets’ surfaces with a paper towel:

Spreading the olive oil with a paper towel

I keep cooked bacon in the freezer; a few slices of which were taken out (or at this point, cook some bacon):

The cooked bacon was sliced:

… and then the bacon was chopped finely:

The finely chopped bacon was transferred to a bowl and kept at hand:

An onion was taken out:

The onion was trimmed:

The onion was halved:

The onion was then sliced thinly:

And the onion was chopped finely:

Then, the onion was transferred to the bowl with the chopped bacon:

Chopped onion transferred to bowl with chopped bacon

And the chopped onion and chopped bacon were mixed together:

Chopped onion and chopped bacon mixed together

The bowl of chopped onion and chopped bacon was then put aside.

Mozzarella cheese, a grater, and a bowl were taken out:

Mozzarella cheese, grater, and bowl taken out

The mozzarella cheese was grated:

… and the mozzarella cheese was put aside.

I use pre-sliced pepperoni purchased at the store; if you are slicing your own pepperoni, now would be a good time to slice 30 slices of pepperoni, and place the sliced pepperoni on a plate or in a bowl, to be put aside.

Flour was measured out:

The flour was placed in a mixing bowl:

Baking powder was measured out:

The baking powder was added to the flour in the mixing bowl:

Shortening was measured out:

The shortening was added to the flour and baking powder in the mixing bowl:

Salt was measured out:

The salt was added to the flour, baking powder, and shortening in the mixing bowl:

“Italian style seasoning” was measured out:

The Italian seasoning was added to the flour, baking powder, shortening, and salt in the mixing bowl:

Italian seasoning added to other ingredients

The shortening was broken up with a fork …

… until the shortening was broken up to roughly the size of peas, and the rest of the ingredients were well mixed:

Shortening broken up to the size of peas

Milk was measured out:

An egg was taken out:

The egg was cracked into the measuring cup of milk:

The egg and milk were mixed together with a fork:

About a third of the liquid was added to the flour mix:

Egg and milk mixture added to the flour mix

The wet and dry ingredients were mixed together:

The rest of the liquid was added half at a time, mixing after each addition of liquid, resulting in a sticky to somewhat stiff dough:

Wet and dry ingredients mixed to make a dough

The dough was divided between the two oiled cast iron skillets:

Dough divided between the two oiled cast iron skillets

The two dough balls were lightly floured:

The dough was flattened out in the skillets by hand, covering the entire surface of the bases of the skillets:

Edges were formed in the dough along the edges of the skillets:

Edges formed in dough along edges of skillets

Pizza sauce was taken out:

The sauce was spooned out of the can:

The sauce was transferred to the pizzas:

… and evenly split between the two pizzas:

The sauce was evenly spread over the two flattened dough in each skillet, within the edges created around the pizzas:

The pepperoni was taken out:

Pepperoni slices were layered on top of the sauce, generally not overlapping over each other:

The chopped onion and chopped bacon mix was divided between the pizzas:

Chopped onion and chopped bacon mix divided between the pizzas

The chopped onion and chopped bacon mix was evenly spread over the surface of the pizzas:

Chopped onion and chopped bacon mix evenly spread over the surface of the pizzas

The grated mozzarella cheese was divided between the two pizzas:

Grated mozzarella cheese divided between the two pizzas

The grated mozzarella cheese was evenly spread over the surface of the pizzas

Grated mozzarella cheese evenly spread over the pizzas

The two pizzas, skillets and all, were placed on the top rack of the preheated oven:

Pizzas placed on the top rack of the preheated oven

A timer was set to 23 minutes:

The pizzas’ positions in the oven were switched partway, and after 23 minutes, the baked pizzas were removed from the oven using oven mitts — the skillets are VERY HOT! — and placed on a cutting board:

The pizzas were removed from the skillets using an egg flipper, and returned to the cutting board:

The pizzas were sliced (in this case, in six pieces each):

A yummy lunch is served:

Lunch was yummy!

The rest of the pizza slices were placed on a cookie sheet:

The cookie sheet was placed in the freezer:

Tray with pizza slices placed in freezer

Once frozen, the extra pizza slices were placed in a freezer bag and returned to the freezer, to eat during future lunches:

Frozen pizza slices in a freezer bag and returned to the freezer

May 9, 2021May 10, 2021

Making Shepherd’s Pies / Paté Chinois / Cottage Pies — Photos

This week’s cooking project from my collection of recipes was a half-batch of my version of what in English-speaking Canada we call shepherd’s pies, while in French-speaking Canada, we call it paté chinois; in the UK, it would be properly considered a cottage pie.

I developed this version in the very early 1990’s after working in a summer camp kitchen, where we made camp-sized quantities of a basic version with cooked ground beef, cream-style corn, and mashed potatoes; I liked the dish but added onions, ketchup, peas, and carrots, and kept to the spirit of large quantities in order to cook for the freezer.

Note that in the text below, while there may appear to be a distinct sequence of separate steps to be taken one after the other, presented as such for the sake of the narrative, many steps were actually performed simultaneously and / or heavily overlapping with each other as given steps were finished and new steps begun. This was all the more the case given that I had performed a number of mise-en-place activities in advance: Ground beef was measured out and bagged separately, a week in advance on the day that I’d bought several packages of ground beef on sale, and before all of it was put in the freezer; potatoes were measured out, peeled, and cubed the night before the main cooking day; and carrots were prepared and sliced the night before the main cooking day.

Making the pies:

Last week, after stocking up on ground beef on sale, I set up my kitchen scale, putting a plate on the scale and setting the scale to zero:

Plate on kitchen scale and scale set to zero

I measured out two pounds of ground beef …

… and the ground beef was placed in a separate bag and placed in the freezer, ready for this week’s cooking project:

Measured out ground beef in a freezer bag

The night before I did the main cooking, I set a pot on the kitchen scale, and set the scale to zero:

Pot placed on kitchen scale and scale set to zero

Five pounds of potatoes were measured out:

The pot of potatoes was filled with water:

The potatoes were peeled:

As the potatoes were peeled, they were placed back into the pot of water:

Peeled potatoes placed back in pot of water

The peeled potatoes were then individually taken out and placed on a cutting board:

The peeled potatoes were sliced lengthwise:

… the potatoes were then cut into large cubes:

… and the potato cubes were placed back into the pot of water as they were cut:

Potato cubes placed back in the pot of water

The water in the pot of potato cubes was drained:

Fresh water was put in the pot of potato cubes to rinse the potato cubes:

The rinse water was drained, and the pot filled again with fresh water, covering the potato cubes:

Third round of fresh water covering the potato cubes

On the main cooking day, the stove was turned on:

… the pot of potatoes was placed on the stove:

Salt was measured out:

… and put into the pot of potatoes being brought to a boil:

Sat added to the pot of potatoes being brought to a boil

The potatoes were brought to a boil:

A timer was set to 20 minutes, the time the potatoes were boiled:

The night before I did the main cooking, carrots were taken out:

The carrots were cleaned and trimmed:

The carrots were run through a food processor with the slicing blade tool:

Carrots run through food processor with slicing tool

The sliced carrots were transferred to a pot:

Water was added to the pot of carrots, covering the carrots:

On the main cooking day, a second burner on the stove was turned on:

Second burner on the stove turned on (dial on the right)

The carrots were put on the stove and brought to a boil:

A timer was set to five minutes:

… and at this point I remembered to add salt to the pot of boiling carrots:

After five minutes of boiling, the carrots were drained, and the pot was placed in the fridge to help cool down the carrots:

On cooking day, onions were taken out:

The onions were trimmed:

The onions were chopped coarsely:

The onions were placed in an electric skillet:

The ground beef, which was measured out and frozen last week, and defrosted beginning the day before cooking day, was placed in the electric skillet with the chopped onions:

Ground beef placed in electric skillet with the onions

The electric skillet was turned on:

Salt was added to the beef and onions in the electric skillet:

The beef was broken up and mixed together with the onions and salt, while all the ingredients were frying:

Beef broken into smaller pieces and mixed with onions

Part way through the cooking of the beef and onions, ketchup was taken out …

… and ketchup was added to the frying beef and onion mixture part way through:

Ketchup added to frying beef and onion mix

At this point, some oven proof baking pans were laid out:

And once the beef, onion, and ketchup mixture was fully cooked …

Fully cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture

… the cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture was transferred to the various oven-proof baking pans:

Cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture transferred to the baking pans

The baking pans with cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture were put aside until later.

At this point, the potatoes had been boiling for twenty minutes, and the pot was drained:

Margarine was taken out, and a dollop of margarine was scooped out with a spoon:

Dollop of margarine scooped out with a spoon

The margarine was added to the boiled potatoes:

Salt was again measured out:

And the salt was added to the boiled potatoes and margarine:

Salt added to boiled potatoes and margarine

Milk was measured out:

And the milk was added to the boiled potatoes, margarine, and salt:

Milk added to boiled potatoes, margarine, and salt

The boiled potatoes, margarine, salt, and milk were mashed together with a hand masher:

Boiled potatoes, margarine, salt, and milk mashed together

The mashed potatoes were put aside until later.

The night before, cans of cream style corn and a can opener were taken out:

Cream style corn and can opener taken out

On cooking day, the cream-style corn cans were opened, and the cream style corn was spread over the cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture in the baking pans:

Cream-style corn poured over the cooked beef, onion, and ketchup mixture

Frozen peas were taken out:

Frozen peas were sprinkled over the cream corn layer in the baking pans:

The pot of cooled carrots was taken out of the fridge, and the carrot slices were layered on top of the peas:

The still warm mashed potatoes were spread on the top of the pies in the baking pans:

Mashed potatoes spread on the top of the ingredients in the baking pans

Freezer bags were labelled:

The shepherd’s pies were placed in the freezer bags, save one (top row, centre), which was covered in wax paper so that I could put it in the fridge for supper later in the day:

The shepherd’s pies destined for the freezer were placed in a freezer:

Later on, when it was time to make supper, my countertop convection oven was set to 350F:

The shepherd’s pie which was put aside earlier was placed in the countertop convection oven:

Shepherd’s pies placed in the countertop convection oven

Once the shepherd’s pie was baked and the mashed potato top browned, the shepherd’s pie was taken out of the countertop convection oven:

Cooked shepherd’s pie taken out of countertop convection oven

And finally, the yummy shepherd’s pie was served and eaten!

May 2, 2021May 2, 2021

Making Bread in an Automatic Bread Machine — Photos

This week’s cooking projects from my collection of recipes included yet more pickled eggs, a successful experiment with my lemon squares using my aunt’s shortbread cookie dough as the base, more bran muffins for my mom, and, earlier in the week, plain white bread in my automatic bread machine, to make slices of bread to freeze and keep in the freezer.

A white bread cycle producing the same product using the same ingredients has been default programme and the first baking programme in all my bread machines. However, please check the settings on your bread machine to be certain to choose the white bread setting.

This recipe closely tracks the recipe for plain white bread that came with the first bread machine I purchased in 2001.

An important aspect this recipe is to add the ingredients in the order listed, particularly the water and milk mix first, then the flour, and then the rest, especially if you will be using the delayed baking function. Also, the original source recipe stressed the importance of keeping a certain distance between the salt and the yeast.

Note that in making this recipe for this post, I turned on the bread machine to run right away on the standard white bread cycle that takes three hours; however, many machine models offer a delayed start function, for instance to allow for the preparation of the ingredients the night before, and having the bread ready at a later time the following morning.

Making the bread:

Six ounces of water were measured out in a measuring cup:

Six ounces of milk were measured out, and added directly to the water in the measuring cup:

The microwave oven (1200W) was set to one minute:

… and the water and milk mixture was warmed up in the microwave oven:

Water and milk mixture warmed up in microwave oven

The warmed up water and milk mixture was transferred to the (cleaned) bread machine basket:

Water and milk mixture transferred to the bread machine basket

Four cups of flour were measured out:

… and the flour was transferred to the bread machine basket, fully covering the water and milk mixture:

Flour transferred to the bread machine basket

Four tablespoons of sugar were measured out:

… and the sugar was transferred to the bread machine basket, on top of the other ingredients:

Sugar transferred to the bread machine basket

A teaspoon and a half of salt were measured out:

… and the salt was transferred to the bread machine basket with the other ingredients:

Salt transferred to the bread machine basket

Margarine was taken out, and two dollops of margarine were spooned out of the container:

The margarine was transferred to the bread machine basket with the other ingredients:

Margarine transferred to the bread machine basket

Three quarters of a teaspoon of bread machine yeast was measured out …

… and the bread machine yeast was transferred to the the bread machine basket:

Bread machine yeast transferred to the the bread machine basket

At this point, all the ingredients were in the bread machine basket, and the bread machine basket was placed in the bread machine:

Bread machine basket placed in the bread machine

The white bread setting was chosen (programme #1 on my bread machine), and for a two pound loaf; the programme was started, without delay:

White bread setting chosen, for a two pound loaf, and the programme started

The lid was shut, and the bread machine was allowed to do its work.

Three hours later, the bread was ready …

End of baking cycle on the bread machine

The baked bread was gingerly shaken out of the bread machine basket:

Baked bread gingerly shaken out of the bread machine basket

Baked bread on its side, taken out of the bread machine basket (the tear in the base is from the bread machine kneading paddle)

The baked bread loaf was placed upright on a trivet to allow it to cool:

A baking tray was taken out:

Once the bread had cooled, I began slicing the loaf of bread …

… using a bread slicer with a guide, to allow for consistent slices of bread:

Bread sliced with a bread slicer with a guide

The bread slices were placed on the baking tray:

A sheet of plastic wrap was placed on top of the layer of sliced bread:

Plastic wrap placed on top of bread slices

The loaf was fully sliced, and the bread slices alternated with plastic wrap:

Alternating layers of bread slices and plastic wrap

The tray of bread slices was placed in the freezer:

Tray of sliced bread placed in the freezer

The crumbs created from the slicing were placed into a container with other bread crumbs and dried bread pieces, for future use in other recipes:

Bread crumbs placed in a container for future use

… and when the bread was frozen, I placed the bread slices in freezer bags:

The bags of bread slices were placed back in the freezer to have for when I want to make sandwiches and the like.

Yummy!