I haven’t posted in forever. There are so many things I want to write about that I don’t know where to start. And there’s this whole global pandemic thing, which is making “normal” seem like an alien word to me these days. So…baby steps. People always ask me for this recipe, but there isn’t one. As with many of the things I cook, I don’t really have a recipe with amounts of ingredients, because I always just kind of make it from memory. But since that’s not very helpful, I tried to cobble instructions together. Here’s what you need…
- soy sauce
- whole water chestnuts
- brown sugar
- bacon
- round wooden toothpicks
I usually figure one 8oz. can of water chestnuts per 4-5 people, but it really depends on what else you’re serving. People eat the heck out of these, so I always err on the side of making an obscene amount. Miraculously, there are never any leftovers no matter how much I make; they get eaten until they’re gone.
Drain water chestnuts, then soak overnight in a mixture of 2 parts soy sauce to 1 part water. Make sure they are completely covered by the liquid. You don’t have to soak them overnight, but they need to soak at least 8 hours, 12-16 is better, 24 is too long.
One hour before you’re ready to assemble, put tooth picks in a bowl and cover them with warm water so they absorb moisture and don’t burn up completely during baking. Put some brown sugar in a bowl and keep the bag of sugar handy for refills. You’ll end up using however much you need, but you want to avoid cross-contaminating the bag.
Cut your bacon strips in halves or thirds, depending on how long/thick they are. Each strip needs to be able to wrap around a water chestnut and overlap ends enough to secure with a toothpick, but you don’t want too many layers of bacon or the inner layers won’t get crisp. I find thick cut bacon can take too long to crisp up, but thinner bacon can fall apart in the wrapping process. Often times, I will use a rolling pin to flatten thick cut bacon a bit, which usually means I can get 3 pieces to wrap from an average strip of thick cut bacon. But you’re going to have to wrap a few pieces to get the hang of it and decide what feels easiest/best with the bacon you’re using.
Drain the water chestnuts but do not rinse them. Sprinkle brown sugar (a light dusting, probably about a teaspoon) on one side of a piece of bacon, put one water chestnut on top of the sugared side, wrap bacon around chestnut so non-sugared side is on the outside, and secure with a tooth pick. Remember that the bacon will shrink during baking, so don’t stretch the bacon too thin or wrap it too tightly, or it will come apart and unwrap from the chestnut when it bakes. (Honestly, it took me a couple batches until I got the hang of it.) Repeat until all your soaked water chestnuts are wrapped.
At this point, you can cover the rumaki and keep in the fridge until you’re ready to bake, up to 24 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place rumaki on a wire rack over a sheet pan (or in a sheet pan lined with tinfoil or parchment paper) and bake for 30 minutes or until bacon is desired crispness. This can take an hour or more if you like them really crispy, depending on bacon used and overall size of batch. You’ll want to check them after 15 minutes and might need to flip them over once or twice to keep them from sticking, especially if you’re not using a wire rack. Once they get close to where you want them, check them every couple of minutes because they’re fine, they’re not done, they’re fine, they’re still not done, they’re fine, OMG they’re burnt.
Remove from oven and try to let them cool before stuffing your face with them. 🙂
Yeah, yeah I’m one of those annoying people on the salted caramel bandwagon. I will eat salted caramel cardboard, I’m not even joking. But I see these teeny jars of it for sale at gourmet stores or the Portland Farmers Market, and they’re freakin’ expensive. So finally a while ago I decided to try my hand at making some at home, and lo and behold it was super easy!
I do recommend doing a little online research on caramel-making tips and techniques, but it isn’t rocket science. The following salted caramel sauce recipe is adapted slightly (more butter and salt!) from the ones you will run across most often. I let the butter and cream reach room temperature before I begin melting the sugar.
Salted Caramel Sauce
1 cup granulated sugar
8 T butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 t. finishing salt
Melt the sugar in a sauce pan over med-high heat. As it begins to melt, stir it to keep the melting/browning even, but try not to incorporate too much oxygen. Watch the color- you dont want it to get too dark/burn. As soon as it reaches a light golden brown, add all of the butter and stir until it’s all evenly mixed in. (This will make the sauce bubble violently, so be prepared. Same when you add the cream.) Remove from heat, add cream, mix until smooth, add salt. VOILA!
I use Cyprus White Flake or Maldon salt and leave it in large flakes. I don’t mix it into the caramel sauce until it dissolves completely, because I like the little bit of crunch it retains for the first few days. Anyway, there you have it. My take on salted caramel sauce. You’re welcome, and I’m sorry. 🙂
Ok so I made my super simple Dutch baby pancake recipe this morning, and as you do sometimes these days, I posted this picture via various social media…
I was subsequently informed that technically this is a German pancake, but all I know is Mom always called it a Dutch baby, so that’s what I call it. I was also astounded at the number of my interweb and real-life friends asking for my address to come get some. (Pancake, that is. Heh.) So I thought I’d share my recipe.
A lot of people have these few simple ingredients on hand at all times, so it’s one of my go-to, guaranteed-to-impress standbys. One pancake is hearty enough for two people to share, especially if you have fruit, bacon/sausage, etc. to go with it. I can never finish one all by myself. Important Note: you must have a cast iron skillet to make this recipe properly. Use a 7-8″ sized one to get the results in the photo, a 9″ one for slightly lower, larger diameter.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk
3/4 c. flour (better on the scant side than too much)
1/8 t. vanilla
generous pinch of salt
2 T. butter, melted
For Garnish:
powdered sugar
fresh lemon or lime juice
melted butter
Mix all ingredients except the butter until mostly smooth, set aside. You want this mixture at room temperature when you put it in the oven, so if your eggs and milk are very cold, or you keep your flour in the freezer, allow for extra time. Put cast iron skillet in the oven and pre-heat oven to 475 degrees.
When the oven is to temperature, take the skillet out of the oven (DON’T FORGET TO USE AN OVEN MITT. I have burned myself more than once just being a space cadet.) and add the melted butter, tilting skillet to evenly coat sides and bottom of pan. Slowly add the pancake batter and return skillet to oven. It usually takes 20-25 minutes to cook, depending on your browning/crispy preference.
Drizzle with ample melted butter and lemon juice, and dust with powdered sugar. I usually serve with jam or preserves of some sort too.
Once you’ve made this Dutch baby pancake recipe, you will not believe how delicious and EASY it is. And a god damn sexy morning after breakfast. Just saying…