The Daring Cooks' July Challenge: My Noodle hands! Spaetzle

Blog-checking lines: Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess.  Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine.  She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

Having made egg noodles before, I knew that I would have to create something new for this challenge.  Along with being challenged to make pasta, Steph also wanted us to do something from our heritage. I don't know why, but while I always wanted to try spaetzle, the thought of making it scared me.  I guess that in my head I just made it seem so complicated.  Well guess what.... it isn't!  And I can kick myself for not having tried this years ago!  The dough in itself is very bland but that just gives you a large canvas to experiment with.  I went for a simple Spaetzle in brown butter and sage sauce.

Spaetzle in Sage Brown Butter

http://www.food.com/recipe/Spaetzle-in-Sage-Brown-Butter-136384

3/4 cup cold milk

3 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter

4 fresh sage leaves, Chiffinod

2 fresh sage leaves

 Directions

Bring to a boil a large pot of salted water. Combine milk, eggs, and nutmeg in processor; blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add salt and flour pulsing until batter is just smooth, about 30 seconds (batter will be very thick and sticky). Since I don't have a food processor, I just whisked the eggs and blended in the nutmeg and flour.  

 
Working in batches, pour batter through slotted spoon or grater held above boiling water, pressing with spatula to form strands. Stir gently to prevent sticking.  Simmer until Spaetzle float to surface, then continue cooking 1 minute longer.Using slotted spoon, transfer spaetzle to large buttered baking dish. (Can be made 2 hours ahead). Let stand at room temperature.)

Cook butter and Sage in heavy large skillet over medium  heat until golden brown, about 3 minutes.  Add Spaetzle and toss until heated through.  Season with salt and pepper.

Divide among plates. garnish with fresh sage.

Optional: One small sautéed onion diced in the butter.

You can see the butter starting to brown

Grab a fork and dig in!

Monthly Challenge Blogaversary: Black Bean Enchiladas

The June Monthly Challenge was to recreate a recipe from the blog.  I chose the Black Bean Enchiladas that had originally been posted in May of 2009. 

The changes I made was to use the entire recipe for the black bean mixture, made more own corn tortillas and enchilada sauce.

The recipe is from the Food Network Magazine  and can be found here.  The used the black bean mixture for two recipes; once for burgers and then using the remaining mixture for the enchiladas.  I used all of the recipe for the enchiladas... I like ours filled! The bean recipe by itself was rather bland and I would definitely have to spice it up if I was to use it in burgers.  However, the enchilada sauce I used worked well with it and gave it lots of flavor.

Black Bean Burgers:

• 1/2 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• • 8 corn tortillas
  • 1 cup leftover black bean burger mixture
  • 1 can enchilada sauce (or try my recipe which follows!)
  • 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar
  • Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• In a food processor, pulse onion and garlic until finely chopped. Add 1 can black beans, cilantro, parsley, egg, and red pepper flakes and pulse to combine.
  
  Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl, add the remaining can of black beans and the bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and mix until well combined.
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  Pour half the of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of a baking dish.
  Warm tortillas by wrapping in a damp paper towel and heating in microwave for 45 seconds or until soft and pliable.
  
  Place 2 tablespoons of black bean burger mixture onto the bottom third of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla up and place seam side down into the baking dish. Repeat with remaining black bean burger mixture and tortillas. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the filled tortillas. Top with the Cheddar and bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cheese is browned and bubbly.
• this is my recipe for Enchilada Sauce.... I have had it for years and don't recall where the recipe came from

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 onion, diced or minced whichever you prefer

3 tablespoons chili powder

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons sugar

15 ounce can tomato sauce or 2 (8-ounce) cans if that's what you have on hand

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

     Heat the oil and and cook the onion until it is soft.  Add the chili powder, garlic, cumin and sugar,tomato sauce and water.  Simmer and cook until it is thickened. 

THE DARING COOKS’ JUNE, 2011 CHALLENGE: HEALTHY POTATO SALADS FROM AROUND THE WORLD!

Blog Check in Lines: Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

I'm not really a "huge" fan of potato salad, but I do enjoy a good recipe when I find one.  Right away I knew that I wanted to do something with sweet potatoes... they are so yummy!  I found this interesting recipe for a sweet potato salad using a rosemary honey vinaigrette here that had posted a Southern Living recipe.  

Although they say you should never try new recipes out on guests (Bah! I say!!) I do have a few foodie friends that are quite happy to be my Guinea pigs.  Had some friends over and was going to have brats for dinner and I though the potato salad would be a nice addition to the meal.  It is a very tasty recipe and my guests gave it two thumbs up.  Although the recipes called for 4 1/2 cups cubed sweet potato, I felt that the dressing recipe could easily have been halved as I only used about half the dressing and still felt that I could have used less.   

Sweet Potato Salad with Rosemary-Honey Vinaigrette

Southern Living 
4 1/2 cups peeled, cubed sweet potato

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preparation

• Line a 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan with aluminum foil. Coat foil with vegetable cooking spray.
• Toss together sweet potato and 1 tablespoon oil in pan, sprinkle with salt, if desired.
• Bake at 450° for 35 minutes or until tender... watch carefully as they can burn easily!
• Whisk together remaining 1 tablespoon oil, honey, and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Add sweet potato; toss well. Cool.