Sunday, March 6, 2011

Midnight Weekend Cooking

Tonight we had friends over for a casual dinner. It's interesting how you often make friends through your children...our children are all in the same third grade class and have been together in school since kindergarten.  Even though it was casual  I did clean my house.  I  made fresh biscuits and two pans of lasagna. And went to a two-hour 4-H meeting with G.G.

The lasagna recipe I've shared before (from The Grit)except this time I did make the tomato sauce but the biscuits were a new thing.  The day passed so quickly I didn't even take any photos which would have been sweet as Groovy Girl took cutting out the biscuits and dipping them in butter under her proverbial 8-year-old wing. There was flour everywhere!!  I would make these biscuits again.  It made a lot and according to the recipe the dough can be stored in the ice box for 3 weeks, which means you could break out a chunk of dough and make a coupla of them each night for dinner. 

That recipe came from a book fair cookbook-on sale for FIVE dollars; Super Suppers Cookbook 2; More Everyday Family Recipes by Judi Byrd.  I bought it because I was impressed that it had a vegetarian section and more than a few of the recipes had whole grains and beans.  It also includes fun menu plans like for parties or well, um, casual dinners.  Just like what we had tonight except tonight our friends brought the side dishes and I just took care of the main course.  I did also make biscuits, endamame (our appetizer), green beans (kid-friendly veg.) and a spring mix salad.   I have "become"  my grandmother who never wanted anyone to leave her home the slightest bit hungry!  We had plenty!  One couple brought a rice pilaf dish with cranberries and the other couple brought cheesecake with fresh blueberries nestled on top a lovely layer of whipped cream.   Yum!

Angel Biscuits

Makes 16 biscuits (I think more)

nonstick cooking spray
5 cups of flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4-oz package yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups buttermilk
Flour for rolling
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled

One: Preheat oven to 375 degrees (okay, really you don't need to do this until you are rolling out the biscuits, but that's just me).  Coat a 13x 9-in pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Two: in a large bowl combine the 5 cups of flour, the baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Use a pastry blender or two forks to cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Three: In a small bowl dissolve yeast in warm water, add buttermilk.  (buttermilk can easily be made with a quick pour of vinegar added to reg. milk).  Using a fork, stir until just moistened.

Four: Pat or lightly roll dough to 1/2-in. thick.  Cut dough with a floured 2 1/4-in. biscuit cutter, rerolling scraps as necessary and dipping cutter into flour between cuts.  Dip each biscuit in melted butter and place in prepared baking dish.  Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden.  Remove biscuits from baking dish and serve warm. 

Plan Ahead:  Prepare recipe through Step Three but don't preheat oven or coat dish.  Cover and refrigerate up to 3 weeks.  (Bake when ready.)

Easy.  I used a mix of whole wheat flour and unbleached white (KAF).    I was a bit mortified by the dunking in butter so I tried one pan without dunking and they were fine but not quite as delicious/light and fluffy as the dipped.  Duh.

Hope everyone's having a marvelous weekend.  Now for the rest of the weekend I plan on resting and  finishing the two books I am reading; She Looks Just Like You by Amie Klempnauer Miller and Bright Young Things by Ana Godberson. 

4 comments:

Beth F said...

I'm laughing at your comment about the dunking them in butter. Oh well, sometimes you just have to go for it.

I use KA flour too. I'm going to have to try the biscuits, my husband claims I don't bake them often enough.

Chinoiseries said...

That's a great deal for a good cookbook! Your post is making me feel hungry again o.O

Margot said...

I have a recipe for Angel Biscuits that I used to make often when our children were all at home. I don't know if it's the same or not. I loved that it made a lot and also kept in the refrigerator. Now you have me hungry and thinking about where did I put that recipe.

Julie said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog!! You have a great blog. I've enjoyed my visit here! I see we're "neighbors", one state over anyway.